Crossing Worlds
by REDtorical
Summary: "It can never be just 'nothing' in this city, Kiera. Plenty of strange things happen around here on a regular basis." In National City, all sorts of strange things happen, but when a dimension-travelling speedster reawakens a villain's vendetta, the city is thrown into a state confusion. Supergirl must decide if this new hero is a threat or an ally. Barry must find a way home. (AU)
1. Introductions

Barry Allen looked up at the unfamiliar city, confused and in panic. He walked forward, making note of the stunning city towered above him. Barry whispered to himself, "Where am I?"

Barry paced a couple of steps, trying to figure out which city he could have possibly arrived in. There were several skyscrapers, as well as people, and the sky seemed even more clear than that of Central City's. Barry winced as a light flashed in his face from a big building to his right. He stepped backwards, bumping into a blonde haired woman wearing thick-framed glasses. She jumped with surprise, almost spilling the coffee in her hand. When their eyes met, the Scarlet Speedster started talking a mile a minute, as if they had been old friends.

"Felicity?! I'm so glad you're here! I got separated from Cisco and Wells in the Speed Force and - and you're not.. Felicity..." Barry's voice trailed off as he examined the stranger's face more closely. At first glance, they had looked so similar, but the longer he looked at her, the more he realized they were not the same.

The woman raised an eyebrow at his comment, "No I'm Kara. Kara Danvers. -Are you alright?"

Barry was embarrassed by his mistake and wondered if he sounded just as crazy to her as he did to himself. He could have sworn it was Felicity, besides this looks like Earth One right? Though this didn't look like Central or Star. Maybe he just ended up in another city by accident. It was common, with his speed, that Barry wouldn't end up exactly where he intended to. Though his memory was a bit foggy; he couldn't remember **_how_** he got lost here in the first place.

The pause of silence had gone on just a little too long for both of their liking. Barry opened his mouth, deciding just what to say. He replied to the girl nervously, "Ye- yeah. I'm fine. Just thought you were someone else, sorry. -I'll just leave."

Barry quickly walked past the stranger who had just stood there, looking in the direction he came from. The woman named Kara walked forward a few steps before snapping out of her daze. She turned around with a concerned and confused look, "Are you sure you're alright, sir...?" Kara said into the now empty void, where the man once stood, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Strange." She muttered to herself. Kara checked to see if the coffee had spilled before hurrying on towards the large Catco building.


	2. Strange Day

Kara handed the coffee, she had almost spilled earlier, to her boss, Cat Grant. She was still confused about earlier. You'd think that being an alien on another planet _and_ a superhero, nothing could _ever_ be strange; someone with that life has seen it all. She didn't know why she kept thinking about the man. _Why_ _was he_ _so_ _different_?

Cat Grant looked up from the magazine she had been reading to study her assistant's face. She squinted her eyes, lowering the reading glasses further down her nose.

"What is it?" Her voice interrupted Kara's train of thought. The intern couldn't help but be confused, "What-?"

"You look like you've just seen something strange." Cat continued to read the magazine in her hand.

Kara, looked puzzled, but gave a quick smile back at her boss. She shook her head, "Oh it's nothing."

Cat Grant paused for a moment, only to reposition the glasses back on her face, and set the magazine gently beside her. She folded her hands on the desk, "It can never be just ' _nothing_ ' in this city, Kiera. You of all people should know that plenty of strange things happen around here on a regular basis."

Kara would have been annoyed that Cat called her by the wrong name, again, if it wasn't for her last remark. Kara became panicked, and looked a little stunned for a moment before responding, "How - **what** do you mean exactly-?" Her voice was shaky.

She was worried if Cat had somehow known everything and was trying to blackmail her, or even fire her again. Even superheroes need money to live.

Cat took off her glasses, revealing an annoyed look as she stared at her assistant. " **Where** do we **work** -?" She motioned with her hand, "This is a newsroom, a home-front for all things gossip and strange."

Kara opened her mouth for a moment, understanding Cat's blatant commentary, "- ** _Oh_** -oh yeah. **Right**." Kara sighed with relief and turned around to walk out of the office.

Cat called out to her, "If you ever want to make it to the top, you better start being more observant. -Oh, and Kiera? Book me an interview with Oliver Queen, I want the first scoop on that new, 'undertaking' campaign of his."

"Yes, Ms. Grant." She headed back into the hallway, only to bump into Jimmy Olsen, the Daily Planet's famous photographer (preferably called 'James').

"What was that all about?" James laughed.

Kara adjusted the glasses on her face and replied, "Oh it's just -I ran into, -well someone ran into me and started talking about some Earth movies - ah 'Star Battles' or something-?"

"-You mean Star Wars?" Winn interrupted, as he turned around in his cubical chair.

James glanced at Winn before continuing to talk to Kara, "Why? What did he say?"

"He thought I was someone named Felicity and then he was talking about the 'Speed Force'?" Kara shrugged.

"Wait 'The Force' or did he actually say 'Speed Force'." Winn was getting more involved in the conversation. He shifted in his chair.

Kara thought for a moment, "No, he definitely said 'Speed Force'."

"Maybe you misheard him," James said, leaning on Winn's desk.

Kara shook her head, "Un-uh. Super. Hearing." She never misheard things, and if she ever did, it would be because she wasn't paying attention or tuning someone out. This morning she was definetly paying attention, to work at Catco any morning, you have to be on top of your game.

Winn looked at Kara, "Well you're an alien, maybe Star Wars is real, and The Empire is coming to get us."

Kara shrugged, "But that's not even the only weird thing, -when I turned around to talk to him again, he was gone. Like in the blink of an eye- gone. Gone-gone!"

Winn looked at James who was focused on Kara, and turned back to his computer, "What's weird is calling 'The Force' the 'Speed Force'. The dude needs to get the facts right."

* * *

"I can't have the facts wrong!" Barry, said to himself, running fast enough so that no one could see him. He was wearing the scarlet uniform so that he could avoid burning the only civvies he had on him. "There's only two earths; at least two that are connected to the breaches. This _looks_ like Earth One, and it definitely looks like **_my_** 2016\. Maybe I could get directions to Central City or even Starling? Yeah. I'll just figure out where I am and then go from there-"

Barry slammed into what felt like a brick wall before landing on the hard pavement.

"Ow," Barry rubbed his lower back and looked up to see a big, purple, creature in front of him.

The monster picked him up by the neck, "Not the costumed freak I was looking to snack on, but I suppose you can be the appetizer."

Barry tried to loosen the grasp on his neck as the creature examined him, "So what do you do?" His voice was deep and raspy. His cold, and horrendous breath was only inches from Barry's face.

The blue ring around the monster's neck lit up as it started to drain energy from the speedster, like a parasite. Barry's heart raced as he observed the destruction the creature had caused to the environment around him. People were on the ground, cars were flung off the road, and windows were smashed. He looked back into its eyes and they were flashing like lightning bolts.

The monster threw him to the ground, and Barry gasped for air.

"Ahh-," the monster said, "-refreshing."

Barry tried to speed out of there, but his powers were drained. Before he could even think of doing something else, a blue and red streak zoomed through the air and catapulted the monster into a building.

Huge clouds of dust erupted from the demolition. As the fog lifted, Barry could see a caped woman stand up from the wreckage.

"No way," Barry said under his breath. He had never seen a metahuman that could fly, -well at least without the assistance of weather, or fire, even wings or magic.

She straightened her back, clenched her fists, and sped towards the beast standing in the gaping hole in the wall.

Her fist met the creature's head and the remaining rubble below them crumbled from the intensity of the blow.

But the creature was too fast, it grabbed her arm and its rings lit up again. This time it was different, it was as if this time mercy was not an option.

Barry watched in horror, as the life was being sucked right out of her body. If he didn't do something quickly she could die. He stood up. "There's gotta be a way to beat this guy," he mumbled to himself.

Barry sighed. He knew this would be so much easier with Caitlin and Cisco's help. Even Dr. Wells' advice would be helpful, though he would never admit it. "Looks like I'm on my own." Barry took a deep breathe and got ready to move, "Ok, what now?"

He noticed that the parasite had been moving with speed like his. "Right! My powers; my weaknesses." If the creature had needed so much food for energy, if he got tired, he would surely pass out, just like Barry had done several times before. Barry barely being able to run that fast himself, called out to the parasite that was about to kill the metahuman girl. "Hey! Uh -Parasite!" The name came to him. "Let's settle this: my powers vs. my powers!" Cisco would be so proud he thought, but this was no time to fool around.

Parasite fired laser beams through his eyes at The Flash. Barry quickly ducked under the beams, just barely dodging them.

"Woah, that's new," he quipped.

Barry's body was beginning to regenerate. He was fast enough to keep up with _this_ speed stealing monster, after all.

The Flash lifted his arms and walked towards Parasite, "As much as I'd love to stick around to play limbo, I got some stuff I have to do. You wouldn't know how to get to Central City would you?"

The parasite grunted and approached the speedster, getting slower with each step, "After I kill you, I want you to tell Harrison Wells that he was lucky I didn't get the chance to suck the life from his black soul. He should have payed for what he did to me."

The man in the red suit was confused, "-You knew Harrison Wells?"

The two let their guard down just long enough for the girl in blue to strike down the tired monster. The monster started to fall. Barry tried to jump out of the way but ended up slipping on a puddle of water that came from a nearby leaking fire-hydrant. The purple beast landed right on top of him. Barry was on the ground knocked unconscious because of the weight of the creature.

The parasite absorbed some water into its skin from the puddle, before becoming liquid itself. The purple water drained into the sewers, but left some residue on the streets and Barry's suit.


	3. Shadows

Deep in the sewers, water sloshed up onto the concrete pathway. The water travelled down the path trying to recollect the rest of itself. The puddle formed into a large man, but it could not maintain its' form to perfection.

The form was human-like but looked melted in complexion; not to mention he was purple. He had no disinct features, only the frame of a skull on his molten face. His skin glowed like radioactive waste in the dark atmosphere of the underground.

The swaying lights of the sewer flickered blue and black. Light danced around the room and the parasite could feel something breathing on the back of his neck. He turned around quickly, but nothing was there.

He continued to walk towards an opening that was several feet away from him, but something called out to him. "Rudy Jones," the dark voice boomed.

"Who are you?!" Jones yelled, whipping his head around to see where the voice was coming from.

Jones' voice echoed down the long, damp, pathway. It was chilling, cold even. Jones stood where he was before continuing to walk to his destination. He figured it was his imagination, that he was hearing things. Though it wouldn't come as a surprise to him, or in fact be the _first_ time it happened. Radioactive chemicals can do wonders to the human mind.

"I have a task for you, Mr. Jones," the voice boomed again; it was dark and scratchy.

Jones stopped mid-step, "Show yourself!" He was desperately looking around the room to find where the voice was coming from.

The dark figure stepped out of the shadows, but the parasite didn't see it at first because it looked like a living shadow itself. The face mask it was wearing was gnarled and had no openings, except the holes for its' dark, demonic eyes. He saw the lightning bolt symbol on its' chest and realized the shadow was a man wearing a black suit.

"I want you to steal The Flash's speed," his mask moved with his concealed mouth.

The parasite was alarmed by the stalky man that moved around him in a ball of lighting. Though he asked anyway, "You're like him, aren't you?"

The man did not respond. Parasite walked around him, confused. He noticed the similarity, but this _man_ , this _**creature**_ , was definitely not the bright red boyscout he ran into earlier. His back was towards the man in black; He knew that this man had somehow needed him and would not harm him. Jones turned back to the shadow, "What's in it for me?"

Rudy Jones observed as the creature paused in thought. It was like he needed the right thing to say, but was not without plan. In fact, he seemed to be very prepared, like every move was carefully calculated well in advance. It was not long before his thoughts were collected, "I'll bring you the man that ruined your life."

"Harrison Wells," The Parasite muttered to himself. But it wasn't possible; the man was dead. "He's dead," Jones retorted.

The blue lighting around the shadowed man moved in waves, reflecting off his back, "So were you."

The Parasite made direct eye contact with the creature, "-I'm listening..."

* * *

Barry, beside his friend, Cisco, and Wells, the man from Earth Two, traveled through the bright blue tunnel of the Speed Force. It was difficult to stay focused with hundreds and thousands of people, places, and events flashing before your eyes. All of it was overwhelming, even to someone who sees the world in millisecond time-frames.

When Barry had first started running, after the accident, it was hard for his mind to soak in what he was seeing so quickly. Now, he felt like he had to train his brain all over again, but this time with the Speed Force. Barry didn't know how Cisco or Wells could stand it. Maybe it all just happened _too_ fast for them to see.

They were trying to get through the breaches, and since The Speed Force held so many abilities, accessing the last breach on Earth One was a plan. There were so many things about the Speed Force Barry did not understand. He wished Jay or even Eobard had told him more when they had the chance, but no one ever shared enough.

Then, Zoom, another 'reverse', lunged at The Flash and they fought their way further and further from the Scarlet Speedster's friends. Barry was warned never to get distracted while in the Speed Force, but he never knew why, until now.

Losing where he was going in the blue tunnel, was almost like falling. Barry's friends seemed so far from him now. He wasn't sure what would happen to them without his help, but the fear locked on as Zoom strangled him.

Zoom whispered, "You don't get to choose your fate." His dark voice echoed in his ears, whispered so quietly but yet almost ear-piercing.

The Speedster, with a jolt, woke up from his vivid nightmare. Barry remembered everything. This was **_not_** Earth One, and he knew he needed to get back home before more bad things happened.

Barry lifted his head off the cold concrete floor and looked around the unfamiliar room. There was a glass-like container encompassing the small space he was in. He struggled to find an opening, a door, some sort of way out. His powers still weren't at full capacity, so phasing through the glass was out of the question.

"Hello?!" He called out.

The room was big and dark, it was a wonder if anyone could hear him at all.


	4. Interrogations

It had been a very long day. Kara had to put up with more psychotic aliens, which had nearly killed her, and she had forgotten to book the appointment Cat had asked for.

She was still wearing the Supergirl uniform and sat in one of the cold offices of the D.E.O., staring off into space. Her hand rested at the side of her face in an exhausted manner, "Maybe life wouldn't be so bad right now if I hadn't gotten in between the alien brawl this afternoon," she thought, rubbing her jaw. Though she thought it was strange that one of the aliens looked human, "I guess even _I_ look human, though I doubt he's from Krypton. Maybe he's from the planet Daxam, or is a shapeshifter like J'onn?" Then there was the suit. Not many aliens wore elaborate costumes other than her cousin or herself -or those humans in that _**other**_ city Kal warned her about.

"Kara?" A woman called, snapping the supergirl out of her train of thought. Alex stood in the doorway for a long time before proceeding to enter the dark blue room.

Kara glanced up at her Earth sister, "Sorry, what?"

Alex looked slightly annoyed, but repeated what she had said for what seemed to be the fifth time, "I asked if you were alright."

" **Oh**. Yeah, I'm good. Just lost in thought," Kara replied. She stood up and walked towards her sister, who motioned for her to follow.

The pair left the room and walked down one of the long dark hallways of the DEO. They walked past the laboratories, and several rooms filled with computers, and other technologies. Kara had often wondered what all the machines were for and why humans would need them so much. Sure enough, Krypton had its' share of technology, but it was different, each appliance could perform hundreds of tasks.

Alex continued to talk, "Well you better find yourself again. With Hank out of town, we have to run this place ourselves."

"Well I'm sure you can handle it just fine without me," Kara smiled. She knew J'onn -Hank, couldn't have picked anyone better to run the D.E.O. while he was away. Alex was the bravest person she knew, and was perfectly capable of doing all this without her help.

The two sisters stopped in front of a large window that peered into a dark space. The dark space had a sealed glass-like container inside it. The container was generally used to hold aliens, but with a few exceptions to _**some**_ people. They could hear yelling from within the room.

Alex turned to Kara, "We can see and hear him, but he can't do the same for us."

Kara winced and listened to what the powered being was yelling.

"-Listen to me!" He hollered, "You have to let me out of here!" The alien was now banging on the small glass-like prison. The sound echoed through the halls of the D.E.O. but many of the workers just shrugged it off. Ever since Supergirl had become affiliated with the agency, anything was considered normal, or at the very least ignorable.

"Poor guy's lost it," Alex said. She was watching the desperate alien throw himself at the glass.

Kara continued to watch him as well. It was strange, his jaw, and those eyes looked familiar. Kara put her hand on Alex's shoulder, "Wait-," she said.

Kara walked into the room to confront the man in the red suit. His arms were outstretched, hands firmly pressed against the glass, and his head looked down at the floor below him.

"Who are you?" Kara's voice was serious, straight forward.

The man's head moved up to look at her; he was surprised. He noticed the cape and the 'S-shield' on Kara's costume. It looked like he was thinking.

"I asked you a question." This time she sounded more stubborn. Kara was determined to get answers from him.

The man dropped his arms and walked a few steps backward, "I'm-" Kara used her X-Ray vision on his mask. "-The Flash."

Her eyes widened as she recognized him. It was the strange man she bumped into earlier. This explained everything: why he was so strange; he must be an alien.

"The Flash?" Alex chimed in as she entered the doorway.

The man paced around the cell, with his hands over his face. He dragged his fingers down his cheeks, letting out a big sigh. He slowly pulled off his red cowl and turned to face them, "Look. My name is Barry Allen, and I'm not from your Earth. I need your help."

* * *

"Why should I believe you?" The woman in blue said. This was the red and blue streak he saw earlier. The blonde woman. Now that he could see her up close he noticed a logo like his. She must be some sort of meta, a hero like himself.

The Speedster knew he had to think, and he had to think fast. "-Because you and your city could be in danger as long as I'm kept here," he finally spat out.

"How?" The other woman said in a serious tone. She had shorter brown hair, was wearing all black, and had a gun and its' holster at her side. To Barry, she appeared to be some sort of agent or spy.

Whoever they were, these people did not mess around. Barry knew his argument would have to be good in order for them to listen, assuming they were good guys. He was certain they had to be good guys because the woman's costume certainly did not scream 'supervillain;' it's _way_ too bright and cheery.

The best thing to do was explain things, and do it fast, "There's someone like me, he calls himself 'Zoom'. He wants to destroy me, my friends, and anything else that gets in his path."

"-Why?" The woman was confused. She winced and Barry knew by her expression that she wasn't about to budge (especially by the way the conversation was going). "Probably shouldn't have started with the whole parallel Earth thing first," he thought.

Being the fastest man alive sure had its' downsides, It was so easy to get impatient. Barry started to talk faster and faster, "He wants my power," he continued.

'Who knows what he could do when he reaches full potential,' Barry finished the sentence in his head, before continuing, "You, -uh -"

"Supergirl." The agent said before the metahuman had the chance to speak.

Did these people _**ever**_ respond with more than one word? Barry continued anyways, "-Supergirl. You're like me, right? Please understand, that if I don't get back to my world soon Zoom could destroy it, and maybe your's too. You would do anything to protect you city - your world right? The longer I'm kept here the more dangerous this gets."

The agent turned to Supergirl, "You don't have to listen to him."

But the meta did not take her eyes off of Barry, "What species are you?"

Barry laughed, "What do you mean? I'm a metahuman-."

"No- that can't be right. Humans can't be like me," Supergirl mumbled to herself, but Barry still heard.

The room was silent for a moment. The agent looked back and forth at the two heroes; their eyes were locked on each other.

"What do you mean -' _humans_ '?" Barry's smile dropped. He was confused. Why would anyone ask that question? Was this a joke?

Supergirl did not respond, her expression was hard to read but, Barry knew she wasn't messing around.

The agent looked at him, "What Supergirl is saying is that there may not be life on other planets where you _supposedly_ come from."

Barry couldn't believe what he was hearing. Aliens? Real? It was something that shouldn't be so shocking to him but it was. All the time he spent studying science and fighting metahumans, actually living the impossible, aliens were so unheard of.

The room was silent as Barry paced around the glass container his powers were regenerating, but not fast enough. Food would definitely help but he figured that it was useless to ask. "Now this is impossible," he thought. Though he was still in shock, he turned back to the acquaintances, "Look alien or not, can you please help me get home?"

* * *

"You're not serious are you?" Alex asked her sister. They were standing outside the room where The Flash was being kept.

Kara took her eyes off the window to look at Alex, "Yes I am. I believe him."

What he had said about needing to go home had struck a tone with the Girl of Steel. Though everything was so hard to believe, he did seem sincere, his voice did not waver when he spoke, he couldn't possibly be lying, maybe crazy, but definitely not lying. Either way, she wanted to help, and maybe in return he could help them, "C'mon, Alex we could really use his help taking down- that big purple -Barney."

Alex sighed, "You always have to see the good in everyone don't you?" She was not a very trusting person. Kara always knew that. But Alex _usually_ trusted her judgement, regardless.

Kara gave a manipulative smile to her sister, who was about to give in.

Alex looked through the window, "Fine he gets one chance. _**If**_ he can prove he is who he says he is, then we can help him get back to his Earth."

* * *

Alex and Kara walked in the room where The Flash, Barry Allen, was being held. Kara could tell Alex was still sceptical but she delivered the news anyway, "We're giving you a chance. Prove to us you are who you say you are and we'll help you."

Barry Allen jumped with excitement. It was like he had waited years to hear those exact words, "Great! Give me a blood test." Barry phased through the glass container and zipped out the door faster than she could react.

A gush of wind hit their faces and caused Alex to step back from the force of it. "How-?" Alex was stunned. Kara remained with her arms crossed and did not look away from where he had stood.

In a flash, Barry was back with equipment. "This will prove I'm human. I would have done it myself, but I figured you wouldn't have trusted the results." Barry handed Alex a syringe, microscope, and a glass slide.

Alex and Kara were shocked. Barry finally noticed this, "-Oh don't worry, earlier I was too power drained to vibrate my molecules out of there. -Hey do you have any snacks?"

"-But you still could have-" Alex's stammering voice trailed off. The question had been ignored.

"-Gotten out? Yeah." Barry interrupted.

Kara nodded and then looked at everything Alex was holding. She took the microscope out of her arms, "Well we won't need this. We have computers to analyze that."

"Oh right. This is some sort of military base, isn't it? Had a quick look around.. So of course it would have high-tech stuff." Barry rolled up his sleeve as he talked to Kara.

Alex injected the syringe into the speedster's arm, drawing out some blood. When she had taken the syringe out, the pinhole in his arm healed instantly.

Kara wondered if it was his speed alone that allowed him to do what he does, or if he had other powers as well.

Alex looked at Kara, "Don't let him leave. I'll be right back." Kara's sister made direct eye contact with Barry before walking out of the room with the blood sample.

There was silence between the two for a moment before Barry Allen started to speak, "So what planet are you from?"

"Krypton." She responded. Normally she would think twice before giving information to just anyone, but this guy was different, besides, there weren't too many secrets left to tell that Kal hadn't already spilled to The Daily Planet. Though it was strange that he wasn't aware of her or even Superman himself. "Is there seriously no 'Superman' where you're from?"

She looked on as Barry thought for a moment. He sat down, his eyes looking upward before making eye contact again, "Hmm no. I don't think we have any aliens around on my Earth. We have metahumans and vigilantes, that's about it."

Kara had known about vigilantes, in fact one of her cousin's best friends was one (though he was kind of creepy), but metahumans?

"What exactly is a 'metahuman'?" Kara asked.

"-Normally I'd say it was someone who was affected by the Particle Accelerator explosion in Central City, but there are others who just have different freak accidents and end up with powers now," Barry explained.

"Freak accident?", Kara thought. She spoke to Barry "How did you get your powers then?"

"I got hit by this massive lightning bolt created from the Particle Accelerator and happened to fall onto all the chemicals in my lab. I was in a coma for months, woke up with some pretty weird abilities," He laughed.

"Could anyone have any _worse_ bad-luck?" Kara thought to herself. She continued to speak even though the whole thing was kind of freaky, "Well here the only ones with powers are aliens so a human having powers is pretty spectacular." Kara brought the conversation back on topic.

Barry looked surprised, "Are you kidding?! Having life on other planets is by far cooler!"

The man was silent for a minute and she wondered if he was thinking about what his earth would be like if there were aliens.

Alex walked back in the room, "His DNA checks out. He's definitely human, or at least a mutated one."

Kara looked at Barry who raised his eyebrows and looked at Alex. "That would be the metagene," he corrected.

A phone rang and Barry looked around to see where it was. Alex stuck her tongue out at him when he wasn't looking, and Kara, who noticed this, gave her a dirty look and mouthed 'Alex!'

Kara put a finger to her ear to touch the ringing earpiece. She had forgotten that the earpiece was linked with her phone. "Oh no," she said.

Barry had now figured out where the sound was coming from and looked at Kara.

"What is it?" Alex asked.

Kara turned her head towards her, "Cat Grant's paging me and I haven't booked the exclusive with Oliver Queen!" Kara knew Cat was going to kill her if this did not get done. She sighed and then threw her hand over her mouth, realizing she probably gave away her identity to the new aquintance. Luckily, he hadn't been in National City long, so there was a chance he didn't know Cat, or more importantly, who works for her.

Barry looked confused, "Did you say Oliver Queen?"


	5. Favours

"I knew you looked familiar!" Barry yelled, excitably. He had been following the Girl of Steel down the past several blocks. Kara had left him at the D.E.O. but that did not stop him from finding her.

"Will you keep it down! People might hear you!" Kara said through her teeth.

Barry forgot she had a secret identity. Most people wear masks if they want to hide... but glasses? It seemed risky. Although it could be a clever plan to hide in plain sight. At least someone like Supergirl couldn't actually be unmasked in battle like himself. In fact, he could be unmasked as Barry Allen, because he was wearing his suit underneath the same civvies which he had arrived in. Barry had stashed his clothes in an alleyway shortly before the battle with Parasite, and finally retrieved them while looking for Kara in the streets.

He was starting to lose the ally in a disarray of people, as he was losing himself in thought. Barry noticed the distance between them on the busy street and snapped back into focus. "Hey look I can help with this whole Kitten buisness-" Barry said as he pushed through the crowd on the sidewalk to catch up.

"Cat," Kara corrected, "And how? You're from Central and Queen is from Star!" She seemed stressed.

Barry laughed to himself. She had no idea. He was sure he could convince Oliver. He always knew the right buttons to press, even if he was a different Oliver on a very different Earth. "I have connections." Barry smirked.

Kara gave him an awkward smile as if to say 'I sure hope so.' She wasn't too good at keeping a poker face, she seemed easy to read once you had spent more than five minutes with her.

Barry had an idea, "Hey I'll pretend to be one of his employees and I'll talk to Cat and convince her that Oliver has already agreed to the interview-"

"-But you have to follow through. Cat will kill me if this doesn't work out!" Kara was looking more and more disgruntled. It seemed the more she thought about the situation the faster she started walking.

"Hey, relax, I got this. Besides, how tough could Cat Grant be?" Barry shrugged.

Kara sighed in exhaustion, but Barry did not seem to notice as he trailed behind her.

* * *

Cat Grant's office felt like it was getting smaller and smaller. The room temperature was on a slow decent to boiling hot and sweaty, but that was probably just in Barry's head. The conversation was unending. He fumbled on, "-So uh Kara, your intern, assistant... person- got me to come over here and tell you that - Oliver would be happy to interview y-"

"-Be interviewed," Kara coughed under her breath.

"-Oliver would love to be interviewed." Barry said quickly, smiling nervously.

" _Aaand_ that's why I didn't contact him directly, Ms. Grant," Kara continued. She gave a fake smile to her suspicious boss.

Kara rocked back and forth awkwardly, biting her lip. She held her clipboard tightly.

Barry figited his fingers, looking around the room nervously. This was way harder than expected. Villain or not, Cat Grant was the most intimidating person Barry had ever met. He wondered how an interview with the possible, future 'Green Arrow' would go with someone like herself. They could be related for all he cared.

"We are screwed, so screwed." Kara whispered to herself.

Cat Grant stared at them from her desk for a long time. She gave her assistant a weird look before turning back to the young man.

"Mr. Allen." She stood up from her desk. "Tell Mr. Queen that I hope he invests in his campaign better than he invests in his employees. It better be a good interview, for your sake." She waved them out of her office.

As soon as they made it out of the office, Kara grabbed Barry's sleeve and dragged him down the hall out of hearing distance. She turned to him, "What happened to you in there?!"

Barry's mind was racing, "I don't know! I was in the zone and then she glared at me and-!"

"-Uuughh!" Kara exclaimed. She put her hands on her head.

"What?" Barry said.

"-Because it's exactly something I would have done!" Kara sighed. She put one of her hands over her face.

Barry wanted to change the subject. He decided leaving and doing what he promised was probably the best option, "...Hey well I'm gonna go figure this interview out so I'll see you later then- " Barry backed right into a man in a blue jumpsuit mopping the floor.

"Oh sorry, didn't see you there." The man apologized to Barry.

"Oh no, that was my-," Barry looked over and froze. He studied the man before him.

The man had short blonde hair, blue eyes, and a scruffy face. His uniform was snug around his muscular arms. The man noticed Barry's reaction, "Do I know you?" His voice had a slight Australian accent.

Barry collected himself "Ah- No. You just look like someone I used to know."

"I guess I just have one of those faces, huh?" He smacked his gum and walked on. Just like that, Eddie Thawne passed once again.

"-Who was that?" Barry asked Kara. He was stunned, the meeting caught him off guard. He hadn't seen Eddie, not even a picture of him since-

"-Oh that's just Eddie. He's one of the janitors, but he normally sticks around the ground floor though. -Why?" Kara was confused and gave him a funny look.

Barry shrugged off the event, "It's not important." Barry had to keep reminding himself that this was not his earth. Wells warned him not to get attached on Earth Two, so naturally the same thing should apply here.

"But I'll go talk to Oliver, this will work out. I promise." Barry was ready to get moving, "See you later then?" He turned to Kara.

Kara started to talk, "Yeah but where are we going to-"

Barry sped away as fast as he could, making his way towards Star City. He had checked a map on the ground floor of Catco, before he left the city. Star City was pretty far from National, it would take him at least two minutes at his top speed.

* * *

"- **meet**?" Kara was left in the dust and a mess of flying papers. "Oh that's what that feels like," she said to herself. There had been a few occasions where she had flown away from people without warning. Must have caught them off guard.

Supergirl turned around to see Winn, who had been standing right behind her, " **GAHH**! Winn!" She screamed, dropping the clip board she was holding.

Kara bent down to pick up the clip board and Winn stared at the place where the man vanished. Kara had the clipboard in her hand and looked at Winn.

"Did he- who was- what-?" Winn was baffled.

"-How long have you been standing there?" Kara sighed. She put her hand on her side.

" ** _Long_** enough." Winn said.

"Winn!" Kara said with a surprised, yet disappointed tone of voice. She couldn't believe Winn had been spying on them.

Winn scrambled, "-Well I didn't recognize him and he did not seem like the type of guy that would work for a big boss like Oliver Queen. Who was **_that_**?

"Well..." Kara's voice dragged. How could she explain this to Winn, and _should_ she tell him?

"Well what, Kara?" Winn demanded.

Kara bit her lip and then started explaining as fast as she could, "Ok. Remember that guy I told you about earlier? That's him, he's The Flash -from another Earth -but we don't have one- here..."

"The -who-? What? That doesn't make any sense." Winn raised his arms.

Kara held her breathe, adjusted her glasses, and then attempted to explain again, "He's that guy-"

Winn gave her a weird look, raising his eyebrows. He was shaking and nodding his head at the same time.

Kara looked away and coughed, "-The - _Star Wars_ one..."

Winn's eyes widened in realization, " **Oh**. **_That_** guy. -Wait I don't understand."

Kara really wanted to wrap up the conversation before other people heard what they were walking about. She looked around to make sure the coast was clear before proceeding, "Well he's some other superhero from this other dimension or something. It's kind of a complicated situation."

Winn stood there for a moment, "Ahh -ok?"

Kara turned around to leave, but then stopped midstep. She turned around to face her friend, "...Actually could you do me a favour?"

"Yeah, anything. What is it?" Winn was nonchalant about the question. Superheroes didn't ask for help often.

"Can you run a background check on a guy named 'Barry Allen'? I would at the D.E.O., but he could show up there and I kinda wanted to keep this- under radar." Kara shrugged.

Winn nodded his head, "-Ok, sure."

"Thank you so much! You're the best!" Kara put her hand on her friend's shoulder for a moment and then walked off.

"I'll let you know when I find anything," He called out to her.

Winn watched as Kara awkwardly bumped into James and Lucy, and then stumbled into Cat's office. Winn shook his head at the sight, and walked over to the printing area.

* * *

He had finally arrived. Barry looked up at the Queen Consolidated building that stood in before him. He went up the stairs and walked through the front entrance. The building was identical to the one on Earth One, but a lot busier. People were swarming this way and that, both employees and clients.

Barry walked up to the front desk where he saw a young teenage girl. Her legs were up on the desk and she was talking on a cellphone.

"Excuse me," Barry said. He recognized the girl, it was Oliver's sister. But what was she doing at the front desk?

"Hold on, Marsha," The girl said into her phone. She placed her thumb over its' speaker and glared up at Barry.

There was an awkward tension in the air and Barry had to remember why he was there, "Um I need to see Oli- Mr. Queen. It's urgent."

"How urgent?" Thea was clearly unamused. She swayed side to side in her chair, her feet right in Barry's face.

Barry leaned his head over so that he could see her face and not her feet, "Very," he responded. He wondered if she would let him go to Oliver's office or not. She probably wasn't supposed to but _this_ Thea did not seem like the type to follow rules, though she never was.

"Top floor, on your left." She said, looking away from him. Thea went back to talking on her phone, and Barry let out a puff of air and walked toward the elevator.

* * *

"What do you want?" Oliver pulled out the seat from his desk and sat down, not once looking Barry in the eye. By the expression on his face, Barry knew that he was frustrated by his very presence in the room. The hero wondered if Thea had often let people in his office that she wasn't supposed to. But even though he looked annoyed, his face was pale, a strange pale.

"Cat Grant wants to have an interview with you in National City," Barry said to the doppelgänger.

Oliver opened his mouth and looked up at Barry, "No." Oliver was blunt with his response.

Barry raised his eyebrows, " ** _No_**? Come on it's good publicity! It's Cat Grant - you know, 'Queen of All Media'? This is a big deal!"

"Interviews are a waste of time, energy and money. People do not understand things until they actually happen." Oliver was emotionless with his response, stubborn even.

His response was vague but Barry could see what he meant, "Look I know what you're thinking. If people don't understand then they will only trash your campaign, and I know Cat Grant is scary, but if you win her over, you can win anyone else too! Just put yourself out there and when people know and understand your campaign there will be people out there who will support it.

Oliver paused and looked at Barry face, "-Okay," he finally said.

" ** _Okay_**?" Barry thought. Oliver gave in that easily _and_ that quickly? That wasn't like him.

Still shocked at the response he replied, "Great! You won't regret this, I promise."

Oliver stood up from his desk and adjusted his tie, "When do we start?"

* * *

Oliver Queen walked out of his office and headed towards his secretary in the room next door, "Are you alright, Mr. Queen? You look like you've seen a ghost."

He was looking down the hallway where Mr. Allen had left. He turned over to his secretary, a blonde woman with glasses and a stylish dress, "I want -I **need** you to clear a space in my schedule. -We're heading to National City."

* * *

Kara soared high above the city in hopes to find her new friend. She turned her head so that her ear was facing towards the ground and she closed her eyes. It was hard to pick out familiar sounds or voices from all the noise of a busy city or planet. She wondered how Kal learned to handle it by himself. The good thing about being the second Kryptonian on Earth was that everything had already been experienced; advice was all hers. Though he was always busy. It was something she had come to understand well since she had emerged as a superhero too.

Kara finally picked out the familiar sound of The Flash zooming through the city and opened her eyes. She followed the noise and swooped down to get a closer look where it had seemed to stop. She stayed a distance away to see what he was up to:

Barry let out a big puff of air from his mouth, "Here we go."

He outstretched his left leg and placed his hands and right knee to the hot pavement. The sun shinned brightly for The Speedster. It reflected off his lighting bolt wingtips in a glimmering light, as if he had all the luck in the world. The Flash took off in a ball of lightning and Supergirl tried her best to keep up from above. Kara's bright costume reflected off windows, and she was surprised Barry had not noticed she was following. It looked like he was very focused on wherever he was heading.

Faster and faster the red blur travelled through the streets, shaking the very ground he treaded on. It appeared that he was trying to stop but ended up skidding into a brick wall. Kara cringed at the sight and the smacking sound of a human hitting the wall with incredible speed.

He appeared to be in great pain. "Again." He said as he got up.

The Speedster ran far off and zoomed into the wall yet again. Kara couldn't bare the sight any longer, she needed to know what was going on, "What are you doing?" Kara called down from above.

Barry looked up to see Supergirl descending from the sky. He winced at the sun shining through her big red cape. Supergirl studied The Flash's face.

Kara was slightly alarmed by his bloody nose. She wasn't used to seeing other heroes with blood, in fact, blood wasn't that normal to her at all. She never bled and didn't always see all that much from humans either, except the occasional times her sister came home from what she called a 'long day' at work.

"Ahh you got something-," she motioned at her own nose. Her eyes darted to the side when he squinted at her.

"What?" Barry rubbed his nose and looked at his hand. "Oh," he said. He wiped away the rest of the blood with his sleeve, "I'm trying to reopen The Breach - the portal I came through. The longer I'm away, the more damage Zoom could do."

It wasn't long before he got ready to run again, appearing not to care about the Girl of Steel's response. He turned his back to her but before he could take off, Kara placed her hand on his shoulder, "There's gotta be a better way to do that, Barry."

Barry relaxed his stance and sighed, "I know, but I don't have any better ideas."

"So running at a brick wall was your **_best_** idea? You're not Invulnerable." Supergirl crossed her arms. He must be desperate. Whoever Zoom was, he must be a big deal; something worth worrying about.

"Right," he finally said.

"Anyway, I still need your help with that purple guy, -Parasite was it? But we'll find a way for you to get back home, don't worry."

Barry widened his eyes, "I completely forgot! I'm so sorry! It totally slipped my mind! OH- and everything worked out with Oliver by the way."

Kara wondered why Barry kept calling him 'Oliver,' did he know him on his Earth? She figured it probably wasn't important and talked anyway, "Yeah well we need to find him somehow and I'm not really sure how to do that..."

Barry paced around a couple steps, "If we had some sort of sample of his DNA, I could probably analyze it and see where-"

Kara realized something, "-Barry!" She had just remembered what happened to Parasite in the first battle.

"What?" Barry said, looking more confused than ever.

"Your symbol!" Kara finally blurted out.

Barry looked down at the lightning crest and noticed the purple residue on it. He had not noticed the substance before.

Barry looked up at Kara, "I'm going to need a lab."

* * *

 **Hello, Followers! Thank you for keeping up with my story, I hope you're all enjoying it! I just wanted to let you know that I will be bumping up the rating from K+ to T due to future violence. Thanks.**


	6. Agendas

Back at the D.E.O., Barry studied the purple residue Parasite left behind on his suit. He looked through the microscope as the cells bumped into each other and grew smaller by the minute. "It's like the cells are in a state of constant deconstruction. They're eating themselves," Barry said to himself. Barry was so intent with his work that he hadn't noticed Alex and Kara watching him from behind.

"Anything?" Alex was looking over Barry's shoulder, trying to see what he was observing.

The agent caught Barry off guard and he turned around and looked at her, "-Uh, yes actually." He backed up from the close proximity.

Barry looked around the large room. It felt like all eyes in the building were watching them; It was probably the fact that there were now two super powered beings that could act out at any moment. There was a real flavour of distrust in the air that made Barry uneasy. He wasn't used to being looked at like he was a threat. He rubbed his hand through his hair, trying to ignore the eyes, "So basically the Parasite's cells are eating themselves the longer they go without food. To maintain his shape he has to eat a lot, so other than feeding on powers, he might need something else with just as much energy."

"How does this help us find him again?" Kara asked. She walked up to stand beside Alex.

Barry took a moment to collect his thoughts. His mind worked so fast it was easy to forget that not everyone kept on board with his train of thought, "-Well considering his last 'meal' was on us, then-"

"-He's going to need another fix. " Alex finished. She nodded in understanding.

"Right," Barry continued, "-Are there any chemical plants around here?"

Kara glanced at Alex and responded, "-I think Stagg Chemical Plant is nearby?" She raised her voice higher as if to ask Alex if her statement was correct.

Barry was certain that a villain like Parasite would most likely be spotted at a chemical plant. It was the guy's best option for food. "Good. That's probably where we'll find him." He started to put away the equipment that was on the metal table.

"How do you know all this?" Kara questioned Barry.

"I'm a forensic scientist. It's kinda my job." Barry rubbed the back of his neck. He straightened his posture, remembering something he had forgotten, "There's one more thing. If we don't catch Parasite before he feeds on chemicals, then it's possible we won't be able to track him down again. This could be our only chance for long time."

Barry was a little worried; he really did want to get home fast, but if they didn't catch this guy soon he'd be stuck here even longer. But he also wanted to help Kara. Catching Parasite was the least he could do since she extended hospitality to him.

* * *

Alex was looking at the current security footage for Stagg Chemical Plant. She had been doing so for a long time, while Barry and Kara sat around at the main table in the D.E.O.. Barry had his legs up on the table and was almost falling asleep, while Kara sat side ways in her chair swaying it back and forth. Her elbow rested on the top of the chair with her hand smushed up against her face.

Alex looked at the security camera for the front entrance of the chemical plant and saw a giant figure walk through the doorway. "Got him," Alex said.

Kara sprung out of her chair and Barry woke up from his daze and stood up. He ran to another room and came back with his costume on. "Finally! I haven't gotten out all day!" Barry was pumping himself up just thinking about the battle.

Barry's face lit up with excitement as he turned to Kara and said, "Race you!" In a flash, Barry sped out of the room which sent papers flying everywhere.

"Are you going or-?" Alex turned to look at her sister but she was already gone. "Typical," Alex said to herself.

Kara sprinted as fast as she could. The wind gushed at her face as she ran past cars and people in the big city. It wasn't often that she took the time to run instead of fly; it was somewhat exhilarating. Having a friend who actually loved his powers reminded her just how fun it could be to have abilities _and_ be a superhero.

Kara arrived outside the chemical plant and stood for a moment. She looked around and wondered where her friend was. Barry had a head start, and surely, even if she did beat him, he would have been here by now.

There was a whoosh of red light and Supergirl's cape flew over her head from the wind that followed the speedster. When she moved the cape out of the way she saw The Flash standing right next to her.

Barry held a hotdog in his left hand and was already chewing something else in his mouth. He swallowed and wiped the crumbs off his face, "Sorry I'm late. I was really hungry, grabbed eighteen hotdogs but the line was so slow-"

"-Eighteen hotdogs?" Kara was shocked. "How much do you eat?" The concept was crazy to her, eating so much, yet he was so -skinny.

Barry laughed, "My friend, Cisco, told me I have to eat the equivalent of eight-hundred and fifty tacos in order to run all day. I have a fast metabolism, burn a lot of calories."

"-Well ok." It made a little more sense now, but it was still crazy. Kara turned back to the building. She was mentally preparing herself for the creature waiting inside. Their last battle hadn't gone that well considering she almost died.

Barry looked at the hotdog in his left hand and offered it to Kara, "Want one?"

Kara was brought back to reality with the simple question, "-Um, no thanks." Kara pushed the hotdog away from her face. Any amount of hotdogs sounded nauseating at this point.

Barry was stretching his arms and legs, "So what's the plan?"

Supergirl ignored him for a moment while she turned her ear to the building. She could hear a commotion from down in the ground. "He's in the basement-," Kara turned back to Barry.

"Great," Barry said as he took off.

"Wait!" Kara called. She sighed and followed him inside a few seconds after. Unfortunately, the walls were made of led, so seeing where they were was out of the question.

* * *

Barry maneuvered through the building this way and that. He made his way to the basement like Kara had said, and ran in and out of several rooms. The room at the very end of the hallway was the one, it was a massive room with giant containers holding toxic chemicals. Barry looked down below to a bridge and saw The Parasite. The villain was absorbing a can of toxic waste into its body.

The Parasite's skin was more dangerous than ever. Its rings glowed with brighter colours than before. The toxic energy had to be deadly to the touch, as the metal bridge he was standing on was starting to melt beneath his feet. However, Barry had not noticed this, and impulsively sped onto the bridge right in front of the creature.

On one side, The Parasite walked towards him, but the other side of the bridge was a dead end. A thick concrete wall was to his back and to both sides was a seven foot drop to the massive chemical bins.

Barry backed up on the steaming bridge, he was directly over the chemicals, and his feet were burning from the radiation. He looked back at the dead end, "I really didn't think this through," he thought. At least Supergirl would have his back, -wherever she was.

Barry decided to try talking himself out of the situation, "Listen, if you keep walking on this bridge, we're both going down."

"Only matters to you," The Parasite scoffed. Barry knew that the monster would only absorb more chemicals if he fell, which could in fact be fatal for the city, but he was right, no harm would be done to the villain, only Barry himself.

The creature smirked with what little facial features he had, "I only wanted to snack on waste but since you're here... I can make an exception." Parasite walked faster towards him, but stopped when he saw a familiar foe.

Supergirl had finally arrived at the scene, "There you are," she said to Barry, "Do you know how many rooms are in this building?!"

Barry did not take in what she had said. He looked up at the flying woman and yelled, "Don't let him touch you!"

Kara noticed the parasite was melting the bridge, "Stand back," she said to the hero.

She swooped down and started freezing the bridge with her breathe, and Parasite with it.

She landed on the bridge directly behind Barry, who turned around and smiled at her. Barry puffed a breathe of visible air with the now cold temperatures. She pointed at the Speedster, "Ok next time don't speed in to a mission without me."

Barry laughed, "Sorry, still not used to this team thing." Barry had worked with other heroes before, but he would often race ahead of them when fighting. Fighting with Oliver wasn't always team work either; Oliver liked to disappear/reappear at random times, and Barry usually showed up late to a mission. Nonetheless, he was in awe of Supergirl's power, "Freeze breath?! Man, you really need to tell me about _all_ of your powers."

Kara and Barry smiled at each other. They did not notice that the ice around Parasite's toxic body was melting until it was too late. The monster threw a barrel right at Barry, whose back was turned to him. The barrel struck The Flash in the back with a loud 'thud' and the force of it tossed him off the side of the bridge, with Kara having just seconds to react.

"Flash!" She yelled. Kara ran to the side of the bridge and grabbed him quickly. There was a big 'crunch' as her hand closed in on his. Barry grimaced as he dangled in midair; he was silently screaming in agony. Kara hoisted him back up on the bridge with minimum effort and he slouched to the ground.

Barry held his hand, "Gaah!" His hand was in such a bad state that Barry didn't want to look at it.

Kara looked down at him, seeing the look of pain on his face. She noticed what he was holding, "Did I break your hand?!" Kara yelled.

"It'll heal," his voice cracked. The last time Barry remembered breaking his hand was when he ran into those barrels during a training exercise before he had even dawned the cowl. It hurt just as much now as it did back then.

"I'm so sorry!" Kara exclaimed. Her face had the true expression of guilt written all over it.

Barry was about to say 'it's okay' when he realized they had forgotten the villain. He looked over to where he was and Kara, who noticed this, moved her head to see what caught his gaze. But the heroes realized the creature was gone.

* * *

Kara was not excited about this visit at all. Maxwell Lord was the most conceited person she had ever met. It bothered her how he always seemed to get whatever he wanted. Lord was such a nuisance because his every move was carefully thought out, which made him really hard to work around, especially on missions. He always found a way to get in the center. of conflicts that didn't, or rather **_shouldn't_** concern him. But this was for Barry. If anyone was smart enough to help with Barry's situation, it was Maxwell Lord.

She trudged into Lord's building without saying a word to the Scarlet Speedster. Not much had been said about the meeting before hand, but what Barry did know was the scientist's name and that he was supposedly a genius. Kara promised to help him get home, and right now, this was the only option.

"-We're actually just walking in the front?" Barry asked in a confused tone of voice. But Kara did not respond, she was focused on the goal in sight.

Many guards had tried to stop the duo, but Supergirl ignored them and continued walking through the many hallways with Barry following close behind.

Kara slammed the doors to Lord's office wide open. Maxwell looked up and paused for a moment. "You can go," he said to his body guard. The tall bald man left the room reluctantly, he was staring at Supergirl, and she gave him a glare back. Maxwell gently closed a book he was reading and left it on his desk. He did not at all seem phased by the new hero standing beside Kara or Kara herself.

Barry looked very confused and uncomfortable with the tension in the air.

Maxwell walked over to them with his arms outstretched, "Back so soon, Supergirl? I guess you must have missed me after you and your sister let me out of my cage. Tell me, how many others do you have locked up in that -what is it? -Zoo?" Maxwell shrugged.

Kara clenched her fists and tried to keep her cool; the comment almost pushed her over the edge. She took a moment to collect herself and wondered how much Barry picked up on the conflict. Kara noticed his arms were crossed and was intently watching Maxwell Lord; Barry must have figured out that this man that was far from innocent.

"I need your help getting my friend back to his Earth," Kara said to Lord. Her tone of voice was cold and unforgiving.

Maxwell laughed at the comment. He took note of their expressions as Kara put her hands on her sides. He looked over and saw the serious face of the speedster, "-Wait you're serious?"

For a moment no one said a word. Kara and Maxwell's eyes were locked on each other. Barry broke the silence and explained his situation, "I'm a superhero from another Earth. I got trapped here and I need help getting back."

Maxwell took his eyes off Supergirl and stared at Barry for awhile, "You're human aren't you?" he asked.

Kara was surprised and wondered how he could possibly know that, though he **_was_** Maxwell Lord, after all.

"Oh please," Maxwell said like he could read their minds, "I see how you hold yourself compared to her," he looked at Barry. "You, sir, are cautious, something she never has to be." Max pointed at Supergirl.

Kara knew his comment was a jab at her tendencies to jump into situations and of course her invulnerability.

"You are not invulnerable, you're human," Lord finally finished. "A world with human superheroes? If only it were that way here." He put his arm around Barry's shoulders as if they were good friends, "Maybe we should be working on sending Supergirl to your Earth instead. Wouldn't hurt to have someone we can trust protecting _this_ planet."

Kara's glare spoke wonders to Maxwell and he walked away from them. He grabbed a drink from off one of the counters in the room and downed it in one gulp. He held the empty cup behind his back and looked out the big window in his office. Without looking back he asked, "So how can I help?"

Barry explained his situation again, "I first opened the breaches to new worlds while time travelling through something called the 'Speed Force.' A wormhole was opened but it was open too long, became unstable and ended up causing a singularity to open as well."

Kara and Maxwell looked at Barry for a long time.

'Time travel?!' Kara mouthed. Barry had not mentioned it to her before.

Maxwell, however, did not express much surprise, "So what you're saying is that there's a certain frequency of this 'Speed Force' you have to reach in order to open up other worlds? But I haven't heard of the Speed Force, what if it doesn't exist in this world?"

"That's what I need your help for. The Speed Force does exist because I'm here, but the new environment has made it weaker. My lightning aura isn't as powerful as it's supposed to be."

 _Another_ _thing_ Barry left out. Kara really needed to learn more about her new friend.

"We need an alternative to reaching this frequency then." Maxwell sat down on his desk and thought for a moment, "Is it possible that we could make a small scale singularity? We could potentially reach the frequency without the Speed Force, but we'd need something that sucks enough energy to power it **_and_** keep it stable. -So unless you guys know a way to do that, then I can't help."

Kara lit up for a moment and looked at Barry and he looked at her. "Parasite," they said simultaneously.

"I take it this is some sort of supervillain? A DNA sample should work, but it has to be a big sample." Maxwell said, "-I will do this **_if_** I can get a small favour in return."

Kara was ready to say no to a bargain, but Barry stepped in front of her, "What do you want?"

Maxwell lifted the glass in his hand and looked through it to see how it distorted Supergirl and The Flash. "Oh, I'll think of something later."

Kara did not like the sound of that. She did not trust Maxwell Lord, not even one bit. She feared whatever that man could possibly think of as a 'favour'. "How do we know this 'favour' isn't something against the law?" Kara asked.

Maxwell glanced at Kara, "I wasn't talking to you." He turned his eyes back to the Scarlet Speedster.

"Okay." Barry said. He agreed with the bargain.

Kara couldn't believe Barry agreed with that madman. She had a bad feeling about all of this. _What is Lord up to?_ She thought.

Maxwell set down the glass beside him and folded his hands on his lap. He became very serious, "How do you I know I have your word?"

Kara watched in shock as The Flash pulled off his mask. He looked right at Maxwell, "You can trust me."

 _What was he thinking?_ Even though he was not from this world, Kara knew more than anyone that revealing your secret identity or face could bring some serious consequences.

Maxwell Lord studied Barry's face and finally spoke, "Okay. I'll help."

"Thank you," Barry said as he turned to walk out the door.

He was in the hallway when Kara started to follow him, but before she could leave the room, Maxwell grabbed her arm. It made the heroine feel uneasy, not because his hand was strong, which it wasn't, but because what he said next: "I think this runs deeper than you know," he warned in a low whisper.

Kara yanked her arm away from the businessman and walked out of the room. _What does that mean?_ She thought.

* * *

There was a quiet knock on Kara's apartment door. It was too small for a normal person to hear, but having the superhearing that she did, Supergirl was well aware that someone was there. Kara used her X-Ray vision on the door to see who would be knocking at this time of night. She saw her friend, Winn, pacing back and forth in the hallway and wondered if he had really meant for her to hear the knock. It was a faint knock after all, almost as if it was hesitant and unsure. Kara waited to see if he would do anything else. Winn finally stopped pacing, and knocked normally on the door. She opened it a few seconds after, pretending she hadn't seen what he was doing.

Winn's nervous gaze met hers, "Hey Kara, I know it's late but can I come in? It's important." He had a big backpack on his one shoulder and a genuinely worried expression.

Kara stepped out of the doorway to let him through, "Yeah, of course. What is it, Winn?"

Winn Schott walked into the apartment and put his bag on the kitchen counter. He pulled out a big laptop, "I did some digging and found some... -interesting things."

Kara stood behind him as he accessed heavily guarded files. He typed several passwords at rapid speeds, one after the other. Kara knew that Winn didn't like people touching his technology, but this was just insane.

Kara leaned on the counter with one hand, trying to get a good look at the screen. Winn turned back from his laptop to meet her face, "So according to this article, Barry Allen died about a year ago from the Particle Accelerator explosion in Central City."

"-So?" Kara wasn't surprised by this revelation. The Barry she knew had mentioned that the explosion on his earth had given him powers, so this did not at all sound crazy.

Winn turned back to the screen and continued opening other files, "That's not all. Here's the weird part: at first I couldn't find anything on 'Barry Allen' but then I discovered this." Winn moved the computer screen to help Kara see at a better angle. The screen showed what appeared to be a driver's licence. On it was a picture of a younger Barry with bits of information beside it.

Kara mumbled to herself, "Born in Star, date, height, weight,-" Everything seemed to look normal to the heroine, "Well it looks about right, except I thought he told me he was born in Central City-."

"-Yeah but check out the name," Winn pointed to a specific spot on the screen.

Kara had not noticed it before. Staring right in front of her was a familiar face, but plastered next to it was a very different name. She stared at it for a long time to see if her mind was playing tricks on her, "What is this?" She finally asked Winn.

There was no hesitation, "That's him -that's 'Barry Allen'."

Kara was more confused than ever. "How'd you get this? Is it real?"

"Well since I couldn't find much under 'Barry Allen,' I took the security film at Catco and ran facial recognition on him. It came up with this license and then I used that other name to find the information about the Particle Accelerator explosion." Winn explained.

"-But why would he change his name?" Kara asked. She was puzzled; none of this made any sense to her.

Winn closed his laptop, "I don't know. But it must be worth hiding if I can't find anything under his real name - **_if_** that is his real name."

Winn turned back to Kara, "Is there a chance The Flash might not be who he says he is?"


	7. Pasts

Barry, Kara and Alex had been sitting around a table at the DEO with their current loss weighing down on them. They all sat in silence, but no matter how disappointed they all were, Barry was more bummed out than the rest. They hadn't caught the Parasite, which meant it would be an even longer wait to get home. What was worse was that, according to Maxwell Lord, Barry needed the villain's powers to actually reach the Speed Force.

Barry sighed, "We really need a new approach." He was trying to think of how they could possibly find the villain.

Alex suddenly slammed her hands on the table and stood up, "Well I'm not just going to sit around until he shows up again." The sudden movement had caused Kara and Barry to jump in their seats.

"Well what can we do?" Barry asked.

Kara looked back and forth between Barry and Alex, "Maybe if we find out how this guy got his powers, that could help us stop him... or at least _find_ him. -If that made any sense at all."

Barry took a minute to think about what she had said, "Well we don't know his-." Barry suddenly paused, recalling the first encounter with the creature.

" _After I kill you, I want you to tell Harrison Wells that he was lucky I didn't get the chance to suck the life from his black soul. He should have payed for what he did to me._ " Barry remembered.

"What?" Alex asked. She gave a questioning glance to Kara who also looked just as confused.

A moment of realization hit the hero, and he knew how they could find him, "Try 'victims of the STAR Labs explosion'." He said to Alex quickly.

By the look on Kara's face, Barry could tell she understood where he was going. Though her expression was odd, she had a slightly worried look and was biting part of her finger nail; he couldn't quite figure out why she reacted that way.

"Why?" Alex asked.

"Just a hunch." Barry replied. But it was not a hunch; Parasite had mentioned how Dr. Wells ruined his life. He must be a Metahuman and there must have been a Particle Accelerator explosion on this Earth. Besides, there was only one way Harrison Wells could ever mess up someone's life **_that_** bad.

Alex started searching on the big computer. "Here's an article, -ahh 'big purple monster on rampage near STAR Labs'. But no one knows who he is."

"-Or _**was**_." Kara deadpanned.

Alex leaned on the desk and studied each passing word that scrolled on the big screen, "Wait, there is a list of fatalities, injuries, -Oh, and workers." Alex turned back to the two heroes, "Maybe we can narrow down this list to a few suspects."

Alex started to scroll even faster, "There are _a lot_ of names here..." She mumbled.

Barry's eyes darted across every name on the scrolling list until his eyes finally locked onto a familiar one. "Stop." He said.

Alex stopped scrolling only to see a name and picture of a police officer pop up on the screen.

"Hey isn't that the janitor who works at Catco? Eddie?" Barry asked.

Kara looked at the image closely, standing up from her seat. "-Yeah...it is-." Kara replied; her voice trailed off.

"Well it says he used to worked on the 'STAR Labs Case' when he was an officer. He could know something." Alex shrugged.

* * *

There were dozens of people crowded around the airport, yelling and cheering. Most of the crowd was made up of the press, who were waiting for just the right second to snap a photo or a get a few words from a famous man.

Several police officers were out and trying their best to push the crowd back, as the door of the jet opened.

James Olsen looked through the lens of his camera. He watched the plane's opening door intently. Cat had sent him to escort the billionaire to the press conference, so he figured he might as well snap a photo while he had the chance.

A man with darker skin and a tuxedo stepped out of the plane first and the crowd started to cheer. The cheering grew louder as another man followed close behind. Oliver Queen had arrived in National City.

James snapped a few photos and then put away his camera. He was standing to the far left of the roped off crowd with a couple police officers. His old, rusty car was behind him, and he was a little embarrassed that a man as rich as Oliver Queen would even set eyes on it.

Oliver waved at the people as he walked towards James. When he got closer, he held out his hand to the photographer, "You must be Mr. Olsen." He said in a friendly voice.

"Mr. Queen." James said back and they shook hands. He was surprised at the rich man's optimistic tone. From what he had known about Queen, he was more of a brooding loner than a people person. Though his hand shake was quite strong, that of someone who is even tougher than he looks.

Oliver glanced at the man standing beside him, "This is my body guard, Andrew Diggle."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Diggle." James said.

"Ah my older brother deserves that title. Andy is fine." The body guard held out a hand to the photographer and they shook.

A big limousine pulled up beside the three men. Andy opened the backdoor of the vehicle for the billionaire.

Oliver glanced at the photographer, "We'll follow you." Queen slumped into the car and Andy closed the door. The body guard walked around to the other side of the limo and got in himself.

James pulled his car keys out of his pocket and got into his own car.

* * *

"I told you I don't know what this is about." Eddie was in a handcuffs and looked a bit resistant as a few officers dragged him into the DEO. "And are the cuffs really necessary?"

"Next time don't run if you don't want them on you." Alex called out to him from across the room. She was leaning on the door frame of a small room.

Eddie was escorted into the room the agent had just entered. One of the officers closed the door when they got inside.

"Sit down." Alex motioned to the table that had a chair on the other side of where she stood.

Eddie Thawne took a seat and stared at the two guards standing behind Alex. To Alex, he looked more annoyed than nervous, which wasn't uncommon when someone was brought in for questioning.

Alex slammed a beige folder on the desk in front of the man. "You've been hiding, Officer Thawne." She paced a few steps, not breaking eye contact with Eddie.

Eddie looked down at the folder and started flipping through pages with his cuffed hands. The folder contained several articles and police records of his time as an officer. "Look, I haven't done anything. I've moved on from police work. Please let me go." His voice was stern and confident. He sat back in his chair, leaving the folder on the desk.

Alex pulled out the seat on her side of the table and sat down. She folded her hands on the desk, "I know, but I have to ask you some questions concerning a conflict that could affect public safety. What happened the night of the STAR Labs explosion in central city?"

Eddie looked to the side and sighed. "I didn't cause the explosion and I'm not hiding from the law, if that's what you're asking."

Alex did not respond. She was focused on his face.

When he turned back he had an emotionless expression, "I was working late on a case when I got a phone call. It was an anonymous tip that told me someone had tampered with the Particle Accelerator. It was going to be launched that night, so figured I shouldn't take any chances." Eddie dragged his hand down his face. "I took a squad with me and we were let in by a janitor who was working late hours. By the time we got inside, the building was starting to shake. Then water just started floating right in front of me, right out of the janitor's bucket. It was all so... -surreal."

Alex intently watched Eddie, saying nothing; she wanted him to continue.

"There was this loud popping sound and my ears started ringing. When I looked at my team I saw this big wave of energy pass over us, and the janitor, -the janitor he-" Eddie paused and looked away. "-He stumbled into a shelf that had weird chemicals. I saw them burn his skin, a normal man would have died, but I think that wave did something to him, he started to change into this -this monster, and I ran. I ran and hid like a coward. I was the only survivor."

Alex understood Eddie's reluctance to come in for questioning. His retelling of the traumatic experience had almost rendered her speechless, but she still continued, "Was there anyone else in the building? Know any names?" Alex asked.

"Before the janitor let us in, I had to explain the situation. I asked if he knew anyone that could have tampered with it, but he told me the only people with access to the generator was the doctor and his assistant. They were the only ones that worked there at the time. I knew Harrison Wells' name from magazines, but I wasn't told any others', though the janitor's tag did say 'Jones' on it.

Alex took a moment to write down the information he had just told her. She knew the name would be helpful but she still had one final question, "Why move to National?" Alex asked. She was testing his honesty.

"I abandoned my team and basically led them to their deaths, so I turned in my badge and never looked back. I moved to National because I wanted a fresh start. Now can I go?" Eddie held out his cuffed hands, which drew Alex's attention to them.

Alex paused and thought for a moment. She had run into many criminals in her career, so Thawne's story seemed sincere to her; It was too thick and complex to be a lie.

"Thank you, Mr. Thawne. That's all we need." She motioned at the guards and one of the them unlocked his handcuffs.

Eddie stood up from the table and walked to the door.

"We can give you an escort." Alex said before he had a chance to even touch the door knob.

He paused but did not look back at Alex, "I can find my own way out, thanks." Eddie opened the door and left the room.

Alex sat there for a moment and rubbed her face.

Kara entered the room, but before she had a chance to speak, Alex started talking, "All we know is that Parasite was a janitor at STAR Labs and had the last name 'Jones'." She moved the hand away from her face and looked at Kara. Alex noticed her expression drop.

Kara looked puzzled, but then quickly reverted to a normal expression.

Alex was about to ask her sister about it, but Barry interrupted as he entered the room, "It's still something. We might be able to figure out possible targets now that we know what happened." He had been listening from afar.

"Yeah but the only people involved with the Particle Accelerator explosion are dead." Alex said in a tired voice.

* * *

Parasite walked down the hall of an abandoned building. The whole thing had been in a wreck since a previous alien battle a few months back. There was only one light that worked in the entire place, but it was dim and flickered a lot. There were ripped curtains that had blown into the hallway and several thin scorch marks on the walls from what Parasite presumed to be 'laser vision'. Rudy had been hiding in the building for the past few hours while he tried to think of a new plan. He was drawing blanks when the dim light above him shut off. He turned to his left and saw a large shadow of a man standing down another hall.

Rudy watched as the shadow stood there silently. Jones had figured out who it was, "I'm sorry, okay?" His voice echoed down the hall.

But the shadow did not respond. It stood there without making a single movement, except for the slow lifting and lowering of its chest. Jones could hear his heavy breathing.

"I just need more time," Parasite called out again. Jones sighed. He wasn't afraid of the man because, in his mind, the guy still needed him.

 _Nothing_.

Jones talked in an exhausted tone, "Look, I know I messed up, but if it weren't for that Kryptonian girl then-"

"-If it weren't for that Kryptonian girl, The Flash would be dead." Zoom snarled. It was hard to see the features on his mask in the dark light.

Rudy wondered how serious the man could be, but it didn't seem like he was messing around. "Didn't you want him dead anyway?" He questioned.

There was a long pause and the heavy breathing stopped, "I'll take care of his death, myself." The tall shadow moved towards Parasite.

"Wait!" Parasite yelled.

The shadow stopped moving and stood still.

"Just give me another chance." Parasite pleaded. He recalled how the speedster had only wanted him to steal The Flash's speed, which would destroy him on the inside, but wasn't death just the same, -but just more permanent? Maybe he just wasn't seeing the whole picture.

"I'll be watching." Zoom hissed. He sped away in a blue light and Rudy shielded his eyes. He lowered his arm and looked around to see where the shadow had gone, but he was nowhere to be found.

Rudy walked forward only to step on a newspaper he had not seen there before. He looked at it and noticed the cover page story.

"OLIVER QUEEN ARRIVES IN NATIONAL CITY," the newspaper read.

Though it wasn't explained to him, Jones knew what it meant. What better way to draw out a hero than to target an important man? Zoom must have thought this plan through for him.


	8. Battles

"Well I'm sure we all have different faces. The powerful Cat Grant must have more to her than what the critics say." Oliver shifted in his chair and laughed awkwardly. He glanced around the room looking at the big signs with his name and picture on them.

The interview had just begun. Queen had been escorted by the photographer, Jimmy Olsen, to Maxwell Lord's building. He could see Olsen out of the corner of his eye in the crowd; he was taking pictures. To the side of the stage was his body guard, Andrew Diggle, and on stage with him was Cat Grant. Oliver thought it was odd how there was a live audience as well as a camera crew, not to mention Maxwell Lord had hosted the whole thing. _Did people really want to hear him speak?_

"Well everyone has been dying to know about your campaign." Cat Grant continued. She folded her hands and put them on top of her crossed legs.

Oliver sat forward in his seat, "Yes it's been kept well under-wraps for a long time. My plan for Star City-" Oliver paused, looking at the large crowd in front of him. The bright stage lights were nearly blinding. "-Actually, I want to share something personal first..."

Oliver nodded at his bodyguard, who came up on stage and handed him a small red box. He lifted the lid off the box with care and set it on the small coffee table between him and Cat Grant. The room was almost silent except for the few people whispering at the back. Oliver pulled out a coarse, grey object from the red case.

The whispers grew louder and circled around the room. Cat watched intently and leaned forward to see the object up close.

The cameraman zoomed in on the object Oliver was holding to reveal a large stone that resembled an arrowhead. Its sides were rough and jagged, the back of it held some sort of co-ordinates, and on its surface was an inscription in a foreign language.

Oliver looked over at Cat Grant and began to speak again, "This hōzen was a gift from my father, Robert Queen. This arrowhead is a symbol of 'reconnecting'. It actually says '毒箭不需要殺 ' in Chinese, which means 'poisoned arrows do not need to kill'...but that's a whole other conversation." Oliver smiled.

The crowd laughed.

"I have this here with me as a symbol to you. I want to show how Queen Consolidated is now 'reconnecting' with the city and hopefully the world. The company has been dormant for too long while the city has been taking a dark turn. I've decided it's about time to do something about it." Oliver continued.

The audience applauded, and a few whistled and cheered.

Before Oliver could continue Cat interrupted, "Star City has certainly become notorious for its crime over the years. Would you say your project will level the playing field?" Cat Grant asked. "What exactly is it?" It was like she was trying to add clarity to the subject, almost like the people of National didn't know about Star's current state.

"Yes I believe it will, actually. The past few years I have been working closely with SCPD on this project I like to call: 'The Enhanced Soldier Program.' It will be a new kind of justice; the streets of Star City will become safe again." Oliver sat forward in his seat.

"Interesting." Cat's voice dragged on. "How will this affect the rest of the world or at least this country?"

Oliver nodded as she asked the question. "Well as Star City adjusts, then I hope other cities will follow in our footsteps. The end goal is to make places more safe for everyone." He answered.

"Now how about some details?" Cat continued.

* * *

Kara had been feeling uneasy all morning. She had figured out, understood, and put together all the information from Eddie, Winn and the files, but she didn't know exactly _what_ it all meant. Kara had known Barry for a while now, but this was all making her feel sick to her stomach. Her face was pale and she stared off into space with an empty gaze.

"Are you alright?" Barry asked. He had his mask down, and was leaning against a railing. His face didn't have the corny smile she was used to seeing, but rather had a look of concern.

"Yeah." Kara said as she turned her head to Barry. "-Just a lot on my mind with this whole case." She motioned with her hands.

"-Okay." Barry said with slight hesitation.

Kara had to change topics so he wouldn't ask again. The sooner they got Parasite, the better -or maybe worse; Kara wasn't sure at this point. She swivelled in her chair, before thinking of the right words.

Before she could think of something, one of the giant TVs flickered on. A newsreel came on the screen, which caught the attention of both Barry and Kara. The two heroes watched intently as they saw chaos and ruin in part of the city. It was depicted through several images, cellphone videos, and live footage. They both stood up straight without taking their eyes off the TV.

"A giant monster has been making a devastating path of destruction in the east part of the city." The female newscaster said. This time the screen showed an aerial view from a helicopter. Kara noticed a distinct path that appeared to be heading towards a collection of big buildings; one of which was Maxwell Lord's.

Kara's eyes widened as realization set in. Kara and Barry looked at each other simultaneously.

"Isn't that where-?" Barry started. He pointed at the screen and gave Kara a look.

"The interview," Kara gulped. This was not good.

* * *

Winn walked into a local donut shop to get his morning coffee. The store, even though it was a primarily for donuts, had the best coffee in town... At least, in his opinion.

As he entered through the doorway, he saw the back of a familiar friend. She was getting served at one of the counters.

"Hey." He said to Alex, who turned around to greet him.

"Coffee?" Alex asked.

"Yep." Another cashier handed him a coffee that had been waiting on the counter for a couple minutes. Winn was such a regular that they often prepared his drink before he normally arrived. "-Donuts?" Winn asked in return.

She nodded. Alex and Kara both loved donuts. He figured Kara liked them more than the agent, but it was probably because he had seen Kara eat many more of them, though Alex didn't have the appetite of an alien. Winn figured the donut run had been for either a victory or a loss. He assumed it had been a loss due to the nonchalant expression on Alex's face.

"Hey, has Kara said anything?" He asked as the very thought of the superhero crossed his mind.

Alex raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, about Barry." Winn elaborated.

Alex pulled out her wallet and glanced at Winn, "If you're talking about a relationship then-."

"No. No, not that." Winn nervously fidgeted with his striped tie. It had been awhile since Winn had feelings for Kara; the whole situation had been a mess. Now, he was thankful they had finally gotten past the whole ordeal.

Alex had a blank expression on her face.

The two paused and Winn put a hand on his head, "Oh she didn't tell you, did she?" Winn was exhausted, he had done all that digging and as more time passed, he became more and more worried that this 'Barry Allen' was a threat.

Alex handed some cash to the woman behind the counter and picked up the pink donut box. "What are you talking about?" She asked, starting to leave.

Winn followed Alex out of the store, with a spring in his step. He knew Alex was always busy and possibly burnt-out, so he was trying to keep her attention best he could. "I did some digging through personal files and-"

"Look Winn, I really have to go. We can talk later." Alex said as she opened the passenger door. She placed the box on the seat.

"But this is really important. _**DEO**_ important." Winn said quickly.

Alex paused and looked at Winn for a moment. "Fine. Get in."

"Great!" Winn said as he tried to get into the passenger seat, grabbing the door with his free hand.

Alex pushed him back with her arm. "Un-uh. Back." She motioned at the backdoor of the black car.

Winn lifted his hand off the passenger door and moved it to the back one. "You really need to give the donuts the front seat?" Winn got in the back of the car carefully, trying not to spill his coffee.

* * *

 _This was big_ , Barry thought. He was well aware that the interview was taking place in that very same direction, but he also knew that a small time janitor couldn't possibly have such a personal vendetta against a rich man from Star City. Barry had wondered if Parasite had wanted to draw The Flash out because of the comment he made to the creature in the first battle. He basically told the villain that he had been friends with Dr. Wells, which obviously didn't go over well.

Kara turned her back to Barry and put her finger to her earpiece. "Alex, he's targeting Oliver Queen!"

"On it." Alex said from the other line. Barry could hear tires squealing in the background. The noise was pretty loud, and to an alien, probably ten times as loud. He saw Kara put a hand on her head and squeeze her eyes shut like someone would do if they had a headache.

"Ok let's go!" Barry threw on his mask. He was about to take off, but was interrupted with the sound of Kara's worried voice.

"-Barry, wait. -There's something I have to tell you." Kara said hesitantly.

Barry turned around to look at his friend. He wondered what could be going on. But he knew by the look on her sickened face that there was news, and it wasn't anything good.

* * *

"On it." Alex said. She shut off the com-link and swerved the car onto a different street. The tires squealed with an enormous roar.

Winn's coffee spilled all over him and the backseat as he hung onto the car's seat and door like his life depended on it. His eyes were wide and his shoulders got close to the bottoms of his ears. "What are you doing?!" He screamed.

"We're going to hit him." Alex said calmly. She planned to stall as long as she could until the duo got there, and if Parasite was still outside, she was going to hurt him without _really_ touching him.

"-We're going to what?! Who are you talking about?!" There was a confusion in his panicked voice.

She took one hand off the wheel and reached down to a hidden compartment in the door. She pulled out a gun and cocked it. She veered toward Lord's building, where she knew the interview was about to be held. _Anyone in the city would have heard about it after all the publicity it's had._

"-Wait what are you doing?" Winn asked a little more calmly, though he was still holding on tightly.

In the distance, Alex saw a massive crowd retreating into the building, with the creature slowly following behind. "Winn. Take the wheel!" She yelled as she leaned out the window.

"What?!" Winn lunged at the wheel from the backseat. The car swerved until he regained control.

* * *

The room in the DEO was getting darker as they talked. The air was becoming rather thin.

Kara paced a little, "I saw a name. I didn't say anything but-"

"-What was it?" Barry interrupted. He was wondering what was going on, and was anxious to stop the villain waiting for them.

Kara's eyes wavered from contact with his as she tried her best to explain. "There were three men that worked at STAR Labs, Dr. Wells, his assistant, and Rudy Jones. My friend found files about a name change of one of the employees -the assistant. But when Eddie came in and mentioned the name 'Jones' being connected to Parasite, I recognized it. But he was talking about a different employee -it took me awhile but I finally put it together-." Kara continued. She was talking fast, as if trying to skip over the point so Barry wouldn't _**really**_ notice it.

"-Put **_what_** together?" Barry was getting impatient. He didn't like where the conversation was going. He crossed his arms and stepped closer to Kara, who in turn, only backed up and partially turned away.

"-The assistant and the janitor both had the last name 'Jones'. The assistant changed his name, which means the janitor changed his name too-." Kara's voice was shaky.

Barry was rapidly trying to put together the bits of information he was being given, "What are you saying?" He asked.

* * *

Half of Alex's body was out of the car as she sat on the window frame. She kept her leg on the gas, though it was slightly hard to reach being in the position that she was.

"When I say 'break' move back and put your seatbelt on. I've got one shot." Alex ordered Winn. She was hoping he could count on him.

"You don't have any other bullets?!" Winn yelled.

"It's a Kryptonite bullet, if it stays in his system it might come in handy later." Though she didn't explain to Winn that the Kryptonite core of the bullet was lined with led. It had a kill switch that would release the green rock. Alex planned to use it just in case Kara's powers were stolen by the creature. The bullet had been around for a long time, in fact, originally, it was supposed to be put inside Kara herself, just in case she ever turned against the city or the world. But Alex never carried out that mission; she convinced the Hank not to allow it.

"Does Kara know you carry around Kryptonite bullets?!" Alex could tell Winn was getting antsy. He was shaking all over.

Alex did not respond, or rather didn't hear what he yelled. The sound of the wind was so loud and she was so focused that she had tuned him out.

She aimed the gun, closing one eye and holding tightly to the door.

The car zoomed down the street faster and faster. The big purple blur came in the clearing.

* * *

Kara looked at Barry's eyes with sorrow. "Barry your counterpart caused the explosion, he was the assistant -and at first I thought that you were the Parasite, but then I learned about the janitor and I remembered seeing another name like yours in a file... -it was Henry Allen." Kara finally spat out. "He moved with you, -your counterpart, to Central City a couple years before the explosion."

Barry took a step back in disbelief. It was another Earth, but the revelation still stung.

 _Head spinning. Can't breathe. Can't breathe_. Alarms in Barry's head were going off as he started to sweat. His fists tightened and his teeth clenched.

* * *

Alex could tell Winn was getting nervous. The purple monster was drawing closer and closer. _Just a little farther_ , she thought.

The car charged so fast at the oncoming villain. Her shot was almost clear.

 _Almost there. **Come on!**_ Alex thought.

" **Break!** " Alex yelled as she fired the gun. Alex could see that the bullet lodged into the creature's shoulder, where she had aimed.

Winn flew into the backseat when he let go of the wheel and buckled up as fast as he could. Alex jumped back into the car, clutched the wheel and hit the gas even harder.

The car roared. The plan was to hit him with the car next, but Alex noticed a few civilians in the way. She yanked the steering wheel left and slammed on the break pedal. The car turned so fast that it flipped on its side and skidded. Sparks flew as the metal screeched on the ground. The car tumbled before finally slamming into a small building.

There was silence for a minute as the two were in shock. Alex decided to break the silence first, "So what did you want to tell me?" She asked Winn.

Winn gave a small smirk which Alex could see in the cracked rearview mirror.

"You know next time you should just let me shoot the gun... **_Or_** come up with a better plan." He panted.

* * *

"We need a plan." Kara said to Barry as they ran together. She looked over at her focused friend. But he stared straight ahead, not once making eye contact with her after she spoke.

Barry remained silent.

She looked away from him, knowing he was upset. She couldn't help but feel disappointment and worry. There was a lot going on, after all.

She ran through a couple ideas in her head, but she didn't know if anything would work. Now that it was a family matter, it changed everything. This monster was not soulless, but was also a threat to the city. She wondered what would happen to Barry if Parasite were to die; would he be able get home?

* * *

Jones had 'snacked on' several people along the way to his destination. From each, he collected various strengths and energy. It wasn't much for him, but he had still accumulated the strength of twenty.

"Where is he?!" Parasite screamed as he walked around inside Maxwell Lord's building. He started to walk towards Oliver Queen who was laying on the ground, underneath a large sign that had fallen on top of him. Even though a few minutes had passed, Parasite had caused a lot of destruction, and even the panicked public did, as they were frantic to get away.

"Don't move or I'll shoot!" A desperate voice screamed.

Parasite could hear the click of gun being set in place. Jones turned his head to see Oliver Queen's bodyguard. Andrew Diggle stood before him, his legs were placed firmly on the ground. He appeared brave, but did not fool the Parasite, for the arm that held the gun shook. _He was afraid_.

The monster stood still as the body guard moved closer. His mind was unclear, Andy did not think properly. In all of his military experience, nothing had trained him for this. But Andy got too close; the creature snatched him up off the ground with incredible speed.

"Andy!" Oliver yelled. He outstretched his hand for his faraway friend.

As Andy dangled from the giant's grasp he squirmed. The colour was being drained from his face, the veins on his forehead were bulging, and his eyes turned bloodshot. Anyone in the room could hear the choking "grkk" sounds, loud at first, but slowly became softer as the Parasite tightened his grasp. The body became skinnier, and the bone structure appeared more and more visible.

Oliver struggled to break free of the sign he laid beneath, though he knew it was too late.

"Tell me where he is!" It appeared as though Parasite was yelling at everyone in the room, but his eyes were focused on the lifeless body in his hands. He threw Andy's corpse to the ground and walked toward Queen. "I guess I'm just going to have to snack on some of you until he arrives."

Oliver looked up at the beast and instead of having a natural look of fear, his face was tight, his brow firmly lowered just above his eyes. Oliver looked up at Parasite with contempt. His face turned red with anger.

Parasite got closer and closer and Oliver struggled even more under the weight of the sign, lifting it slightly and then dropping it again. Oliver, however, looked past the creature that was in front of him in confusion.

"I know who you're talking about." A mellow voice called out.

Rudy Jones stopped dead in his tracks. He whipped his head around to see who Oliver was looking at; it was the infamous Cat Grant. She was standing tall above a few people who laid on the ground, they had their hands on their heads in surrender.

"I know him, -I know a friend of his." She stated.

Parasite approached Cat Grant "Bring. Me. The Flash." He raised his hand, ready to strike the woman.

A bright red blur grabbed the woman in a flash; she was out of the villain's view. The Parasite's arm struck the air before he had even noticed what had happened.

"How about me?" Supergirl landed on the ground in front of the creature. She straightened her stance from a crouch, and her cape followed suit. "It is _my_ city; you get to answer to me first." Kara shrugged. She took off in the air and gave Parasite a quick push so that he wouldn't be able to drain much of her power.

Barry watched the fight in a daze. He didn't take his eyes off of Parasite, Henry Allen, a doppelgänger of his father.

The woman he had saved looked at him with curiosity. "Aren't you going to help?" Cat Grant asked.

Barry did not have time to blur his face when their eyes met for the second time. It was as though she could stare into his soul. "-Right." Barry stammered. He took off in a blinding light and a gush of wind which sent Cat back a few steps.

Barry sped in front of the two fighting: Kara and Jones- Allen. " **Stop!** " He yelled. He had his arms outstrehced between both of the powered beings.

Before Parasite could have a second thought, Barry glared at him, " ** _You_** need to stop."

Kara relaxed her stance and unclenched her fists. She put her at her sides.

It was as if time had frozen in place. No one dared move at the tone of The Flash's voice. His eyes spoke to the villain in a blaze of fury but somehow with compassion as well.

"I know you're damaged." Barry breathed, "But I can help you, - ** _we_** can help you." He glanced at Kara for a moment and turned back. "You won't starve, I promise, we'll find a cure. But think about those you cared about, Allen, think about your wife, -your son, they wouldn't want this."

"How do you know my name?" Parasite asked. He took a step back from the hero. Kara approached Barry and stood beside him. She put a hand on his shoulder.

A disturbance interrupted the meeting. The lights in the building flickered and the room went dark, blue lighting could be seen from above.

Barry was well aware who it was, but Kara was not. However, she picked up that whatever it was, was a threat, because of the change in Barry's posture. Kara prepped herself for a fight.

"If you don't do this, you won't get your end of the bargain. I won't bring you Harrison Wells and you won't get your justice." A voice boomed.

The Flash saw the dark figure standing on a balcony above them. He quickly looked back at Parasite. "Harrison wells didn't cause the explosion. Barry Allen did." Barry said quickly. He was trying to make sure Zoom didn't twist the story and ruin Henry's last chance at salvation.

Henry gave him a disgusted look. "Liar!" He yelled at the speedster.

The Flash removed his mask and looked at the Parasite. Henry watched intently as the hero's mask dropped to the back of his neck and looked closely as he moved his face up slowly. He could see him now: brown hair, green eyes, familiar features - ones he had not seen for a long time.

"I heard what happened. Everything about the explosion, what happened to you. **I** did it, -Dad." Barry was sad. His intention wasn't to deceive the man, but rather to give him one last chance to talk to his son. Even different versions of his family moved him in waves of emotion.

"-Barry?" Henry said in disbelief. His voice sounded semi-normal, with less of the deep rasp he usually had.

"He's a liar." The dark voice boomed.

This time Henry Allen looked up to see Zoom. He was looking down on them, his stalky shoulders moved slowly and he breathed heavily, despite his great speed.

"Don't think for a second that this man is your son, Mr. Jones." Zoom scoffed.

"That's not my name!" Parasite screeched. He threw his hands over his ears.

"This is not your son. He never was and never will be. He is from another earth, **_your_** son is still dead."

"Tell me it isn't true, Barry." Henry's voice was full of sorrow.

Tears rolled down Barry's cheeks. "He's playing you too. Wells is really dead, and he's not coming back either."

"Son-?"

Barry saw his eyes. He read his expression and it matched his; this man had hope that maybe, somehow, his son had really survived. A look he knew all too well from looking at the ones that fell from his grip whether it was a doppelgänger or on a time travel mission.

* * *

Kara looked worried. Things were most definitely getting worse. She felt like she was caught in between a big family feud, which it kind of was.

Barry continued to speak. "Eddie -Officer Thawne, told me what happened. The explosion -The Particle Accelerator was being upgraded but there was a mistake, Harrison didn't cause this, it's not his fault you're this way -or that Barry died."

Parasite's expression hardened, "You're a liar!"

Parasite lunged at Barry Allen, who had let his guard down but Supergirl jumped in front of him. Barry fell to the ground. The Parasite's arms clashed with hers. "-Run, Barry! Get everyone out!"

The energy and power was being drained from her body and transferred to the angry Parasite.

"I'm not leaving you here!" Barry yelled.

Kara gave a brief glance around the room. She could see that most people had gotten out of the building, with only a few a safe distance back from the fight. Through the corner of her eye she could see Maxwell Lord slinking away into another room, and her sister and friends directing people out of the building. She knew that Barry wouldn't have to evacuate anyone else, but she didn't want him to be used for whatever plan the shadow or Parasite had for him. But she didn't know how she was going to handle the two villains herself, especially with her powers being drained and not knowing much about the man in black.

Her eyes sparked with an idea and she looked at Barry and directed her eyes to the glowing ring on the villain's neck that was growing brighter and brighter. He looked at the rings too, as if he knew what to do.

"Barry!" She yelled at him.

Barry started to run circles around them. He moved faster and faster, causing a transparent red funnel to form.

 _Not **exactly** what I had in mind_ , Kara thought. But nonetheless, she figured he had a plan of his own.

Alex ran from the doorway to see what was happening. She pulled the kill switch out of a side pouch and placed her thumb just above the button.

Kara was struggling to find air in the funnel and found herself growing weaker. She knelt down on the floor, struggling to outmatch the power stealing creature.

For a second the red of Barry's uniform disappeared but then a giant yellow light was fired at Parasite. A flash of lightning thrown from Barry's aura struck the villain. The force of the blow sent Kara flying backwards. The rings on his skin grew brighter and brighter as he soaked in the energy.

Before the Parasite had time to react to the shock, Alex pushed the button on the kill switch.

Parasite screeched in pain as the powers of both The Flash and Supergirl were overcharging his body. A green substance from within him started to glow. Kryptonite quickly infected his body and he became weaker and weaker. He screamed as he tried to grab at the ground. It was too much at once: the powers racing through his blood cells, the electricity burned, and the Kryptonite made him collapse.

The three remaining stood silent and looked at the now smoking creature on the ground.

Zoom sped down to the floor "You ruined everything!" He zoomed away and then came back, now standing beside the fallen Parasite. He had Oliver Queen in his grasp.

* * *

 **Sorry for the delay, guys! I just want to let you know that whenever I take longer than normal to post, check on my profile page because I will probably give an update on why I haven't posted and when to expect the next chapter. Thanks!**


	9. Battles Pt2

Zoom stood next to the collapsed Parasite, holding an unconscious Oliver Queen in the air. Zoom studied the rich man's face.

"What a shame." Zoom clearly annunciated his words. "He looks awfully familiar." He glared at Barry and started moving his free hand at great speeds, vibrating it at the density of the human body, and making sure Barry saw it. He brought his hand closer to Oliver's chest and Barry got ready to move.

BANG! A flash of light came from a nearby balcony. A shot was fired.

In a nanosecond, Zoom's hand stopped vibrating. He raised his hand to catch the bullet that was headed for his skull, while stepping to the side. But he reacted too slow, for he failed to catch it. The thin bullet darted through his palm. The jolt of pain caused him to drop Oliver on the ground. His head darted to find where the sniper had come from.

It's like he's losing his edge, Barry thought. Not once did Barry see Zoom get careless or make a mistake, for that matter. Maybe it was his bitter rage clouding his judgement, distracting him from the things around, or maybe it was something else.

But whatever it was, Zoom was furious. Even with his hidden face, the shape of his mask looked angrier than usual. When he finally located where the sniper was, he was too late to stop him from pulling a lever on the wall.

Red lights in the building started to dance above them while a loud siren sounded. Everything was plunged into chaos as men in black uniforms appeared from all over the building. On balconies, from the ground floor and even from the skylight on the roof. The gunmen rushed straight toward the fight. They took aim at the villain.

Time stood still for a moment as people looked back and forth at each other. But what was more unsettling was the delayed response of the villain; he was thinking. He moved his head around the room to see a few of the gunmen shaking and his foes frozen where they stood. Zoom started to cackle at the sight.

Barry looked at Kara, only to see the same expression that must have been on his face. He had never heard Zoom laugh before, and it was terrifying.

"Until next time, Flash." He said to Barry in his deep monotone voice.

The gunmen started to fire but Zoom was too quick. He sped out of the building, knocking some of them over with the gush of wind.

But it was too late for the heroes to realize what had happened. The stray bullets struck the fallen Parasite. They pelted his still body.

"No!" Barry yelled. He rushed over to him and dropped to his knees. _What do I do? What do I do?_ His mind raced.

A click sounded and Barry could feel something on the back of his head.

"Don't move." A gunman said.

Barry froze in fear. He could feel the cool metal through his mask. He moved his eyes around the room and noticed that there were, at this point, guns pointed at everyone in the room. Alex had one on her neck, Barry had one, too, and Kara had about five on her. Though she didn't seem concerned about herself. She looked to be more phased by the danger of her friends. ...But he felt something was missing... Though he shrugged it off; he was deeply confused.

 _We're the good guys,_ he thought. _What side are they on?_

Though he knew he was fast, Barry knew the slightest movement might get him, and possibly Alex killed before he could get out of the way. The speedster held his breath.

With out a second thought, Oliver Queen jumped out of the shadows and lunged at the man who pointed the gun. He smashed the arrowhead hozen over the man's head with great force.

Barry could feel the gun come off of his head. He briefly looked at the man who saved his life in awe.

 _Oliver Queen: Hero_.

Words struggled to come to him. "-Thanks." Barry finally spat out.

Queen nodded and ran out of sight. He was good enough to help, and smart enough to know that that was all he needed to do.

The moment had happened in mere seconds yet it felt like it had been hours. Barry could see what Oliver was becoming. He didn't appear to be the happy playboy that he saw in the interview, but he was even gloomier than when they first met on this Earth. He wasn't sure if it was good or bad. The Hood started off as a killer on his earth, but maybe there's hope for this Oliver, too...-that is, _**if**_ he finds the right people.

Barry looked over at the gunmen, who barely had time to process what just happened. The speedster took advantage of this.

With a flash, Barry took off and stole the gun from Alex's gunman. As soon as she was aware what happened, she rammed her elbow into the gunman's face, knocking him to the ground.

Barry smirked as he ran by. He looked over to Supergirl and wondered how she would deal with the gunmen.

The other men opened fire on Supergirl and the bullets bounced off her chest. She didn't flinch, but ran toward her sister and shielded her from any stray bullet that may come her way. The force of the sprint had knocked over the men.

"Cool." Barry said as he dodged a couple of the bullets. He saw everyone was down. It was done. Silence filled the room.

Flash skidded beside Supergirl and Alex. They stood tall together and any of the remaining gunmen backed off.

The heroes turned to each other. "It's over." Kara gasped.

The two of them looked over to the beast at their feet. There was a purple liquid draining from his body; blood. _**His**_ blood.

Barry dropped to his knees knowing what to do this time. He vibrated his hand several times through his body. His hands grabbed out multiple bullets as quickly as he could. When all of them were out he pressed down on the wounds, desperately trying to stop the bleeding.

Parasite opened his eyes and looked at the speedster, who didn't seem to notice. "-H-he lied didn't he? Harrison is dead." Parasite struggled to speak.

"He was going to bring a Harrison from another Earth." Barry said. He didn't know the extent of Zoom's plan, but he figured that was what he had in mind. He kept holding the wounds. The blood was getting all over his suit.

"Heh. So that's what you are. You're just like him, you know." Parasite coughed.

Barry was trying to think of a way to save his father's doppelgänger, when he turned to Kara. "Can't we heal him with your powers?" He pleaded. Maybe if he drained just a little more power everything would be ok.

Kara and Alex just stood there watching, Barry knew why they didn't help, but he didn't want to admit it himself. He had to keep trying, - _someone_ had to.

"There's too much." Henry said. Too much power, too much blood. Besides, I'll be ok." Henry wheezed. His body was getting skinnier by the second.

He moved his head to meet the girl of steel. "Sorry." He said to her.

She nodded in response.

The meta-human reached his hand to Barry and he grabbed onto it. It didn't sting, there was no power-transfer, only a peacefulness; everything was at ease. The grip of Henry's hand loosened and finally went limp.

A door slammed open from across the room and Maxwell rushed in. "Stand down!" He yelled at his gunmen.

"You're a little late." Kara was angry. She crossed her arms and stared him down.

Maxwell ignored her and quickly got to his knees. He collected some of the blood from the dead meta. He looked up at Kara and Barry. "I'll be awhile. I need to work through his DNA." Maxwell said.

Some workers came by and hoisted the meta's body onto a stretcher and wheeled it away.

"I'll be in my lab." Maxwell tucked some viles into his suit's pocket and rushed to where the workers took the body.

Barry looked away and saw the partially destroyed doors. He noticed the sky; he hand't realized how much time had actually passed by. It was night before he had even realized it. They had been in that building all day.

"You okay?" Kara asked Barry.

Barry snapped out of his daze and looked at the blood stained floor. "Yeah. I just need some time to clear my head."

"No matter what anyone from Earth Two tells me, seeing doppelgängers of people I care about still catches me off guard. It's like they're still family, in this case, actual flesh and blood." Barry thought.

Barry walked out of the building. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Kara and Alex embrace. It had been a long day.

* * *

Barry sat atop a building in the cold night. The air was thin and the breeze was chilling due to the altitude in the sky. Barry looked down at the city below. It was like his in so many ways, not dark like Star, but peaceful. Well it usually is peaceful in Central, but recently it's been thrown into a sea of chaos. _Breaks are nice_. He thought.

His feet dangled as he sat on the edge. For a moment Barry wondered how amazing it must feel to fly, see the city like this all the time. There were so many skyscrapers, and from where he was sitting, he had a clear view of the stars.

"Hey." A voice said.

Barry looked to the side and saw Kara just floating in the sky beside him. Her cape billowed in the wind.

"Hey." He said back. Barry wondered if she would come find him. It was probably easy to spot him: the red suit on a skyscraper where she was probably flying near.

Kara sat down beside him, and her cape drooped down slowly behind her. "I have a confession to make. I had my friend, Winn, do a background check on you." She said right off.

Barry laughed. All the weird looks and awkward exchanges from earlier made sense. "Do I really look that dangerous? I know my father looked like **_that,_** _buuuut_ I figured I looked a little friendly." He joked, smiling at her for a moment.

They both laughed. It felt good to laugh after a long day, but there was a brief but uneasy silence that followed. They both looked away from each other.

"You know the worst part?" Barry started. "I've seen this version of my dad outside of prison more than I've seen my own in years." He looked straight forward, tracing the stars with his wandering eyes.

It was true that Henry had left Central City as soon as he was released from prison. It was understandable to Barry because of the nearly destroyed reputation, but a thought still lingered: _Why wouldn't he stay for me?_

Kara nodded in understanding, though she appeared to be at a loss for words to have a sharp reply. Because Barry hadn't said anything, she went on. "I don't mean to pry, but the Barry and Henry here changed their names, but now that they're both dead, we might not know why- ". She cut herself off and tapped her fingers on the building's ledge. "I mean, maybe what you just said had something to do with it?"

Barry rubbed his neck and let out a big sigh. "I already know why. On my Earth my mother was murdered when I was eleven and my father was arrested for it. It wasn't his fault, just someone messing with the time stream-." Barry paused when he saw Kara's confused expression. It looked like she was trying to figure out what he just said. "-It's a long, complicated story." He continued.

Kara nodded.

"Something similar must have happened here, but I guess these versions got away. I wonder how I would have turned out if-?" Barry stopped in thought.

Kara looked at Barry but he was distracted. Staring off into the dead of night. She went back to looking at the starry night in front of them and kicked her feet a couple times as they dangled from the tall building.

"When I was young my mother and father were in power in Krypton, my home planet, but they hid Krypton's state from everyone -which, unfortunately, includes me." She began. "They knew Krypton was going to die but they didn't tell anyone, instead they just sent me away. I lost my planet that day, my family-. I guess what I'm trying to say is... I know how you feel. I know what it's like." She said.

Barry looked over at her with sympathy.

"Sometimes you have to make your own family.. -and I have, maybe you have to- and if not, you have one here." Kara smiled.

Barry gave a quick smirk and nodded. "Yeah. Thanks. " His words hung in the air.

Kara's smile disappeared and her brow came down on her eyes. - _thinking again_ , Barry figured.

"-Uh, Barry..?" Kara began.

"Yeah?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"How'd you get up here?" Kara asked. She looked over at his serious face with hers. They looked at each other for a second until Kara made a funny face.

Barry looked at her and they cracked up laughing.

"I -might have ran up the side of the building." He laughed.

Kara was still laughing "-There is a lot(italics bold) I don't know about you."

"It's been a long day, hasn't it?" Barry grinned.

"Yep." She nodded with a big smile on her face.

They sat in the night and watched the sun rise in the sky. Supergirl got up and floated in the air. She turned to leave, but stopped herself. She turned slightly to face her friend. "Oh, and Barry?"

"Yeah?" He asked again.

"You turned out fine." She smiled. Kara answered his unspoken question.

Barry smiled back and stood up. He watched her fly away with her red cape waving in the wind. Barry sped down the side of the building.

* * *

"So no one's been down here since the explosion?" Barry asked, looking back at Maxwell Lord. The speedster was leading the small group through a circular building.

They were in the long, dark hallways of STAR Labs. In fact, they were deeper in the building than anybody had ever been since the incident, or so many thought. The gang stepped over obstacles and ducked under pipes hanging from the ceiling.

Kara thought it was weird that the city would leave it alone for so long, leave this danger for any curious kid to get themselves into. But she figured ... _what was that saying? 'Old wounds?'_ The alien wondered.

"I don't know." Maxwell said. He seemed disinterested in whatever Barry had to say.

There was a big creaking noise and a holler. Time froze as Kara noticed Barry's head whip around to see what was happening. She looked up and caught a falling metal plate that almost fell on her friend, Winn.

"Thanks." He said to the Girl of Steel. He observed the busted up ceiling above him while the rest continued to walk. When Kara started to leave, he seemed to snap back into focus. Winn jogged a few steps to catch up with everyone. "Do you think **_he_** is actually buried down here? You know, _the assistant_."

Barry gave him a funny look. Kara wondered if he knew who he was. She had mentioned Winn and the whole background check, but she wasn't sure if he had put it together.

They stopped at the end of a hallway with a large door. The walls curved up in a circular tunnel, but were covered with burns and scratches. Kara looked in through a small window in the door. Through it, she could see another dark room that looked like the perfect runway. It was a lot neater than the hallways and ground floor they entered. The floor was clear but the walls were a mess. Machinery was ripped out and dangled from the ceiling.

Maxwell and Winn set down some equipment in the room. Amongst the equipment was a medium sized generator filled with purple liquid.

Lord faced the two heroes. He held out two identical looking wristbands. "These are for you. Do not take them off while trying to access the Speed Force."

Barry placed his wristband on right away. He shimmied it down his wrist in a comfortable place and fidgeted with it. He looked up at Maxwell. "How does it work?" He asked.

"The wristbands contain Parasite's blood. It acts as both a generator and a stabilizer. As you both run, it steals energy from anything around and should draw it to your lightning aura. Hopefully, the extra charge will help you access your Speed Force, then you know the rest." Maxwell explained.

"What about the singularity?" Barry asked.

Maxwell walked over to the machine. "The wristbands also signal to this generator, which **_should_** keep some of that dark matter energy under control. That will keep the singularity stable." Maxwell continued to explain. "But there's one more thing: When you start seeing whatever it is you see when you enter the Speed Force, you will have twenty seconds before the wormhole opens, when that happens, you have to find your world in the time it takes for the singularity to become unstable. That will be about one minute so get through as fast as you can. After that, you're on your own."

Barry nodded. "One minute to search fifty-two different earths. I can do this." He said to himself.

Maxwell Lord turned his focus to the girl of steel. "Supergirl. When he gets through you have about ten seconds to close the singularity before it becomes dangerous to the entire city."

"How is she going to do that?" Alex butted in. She had remained silent for a long time, no doubt watching Lord to make sure he stayed in check.

"Well-. -With her hands." Maxwell explained.

Alex put her hand on her hips and opened her mouth several times trying to figure out how to respond to that. She shook her head and squinted.

Kara put a hand on her shoulder so she would stop. "I can do it." She said boldly.

Kara had followed the long explanation. She was hoping this would work out. Kara looked down at the wristband in her hands, she hadn't put it on yet. She looked at the metal closely and tried her hardest to look into it. But no matter how hard she tried her X-Ray vision wasn't working. She stopped for a minute when a moment of realization kicked in.

"Why is this made of led?" She jabbed at Maxwell. She started to walk toward him, clutching the wristband tightly.


	10. Home

"Why is this made of led?" Kara exclaimed. She started to move toward the scientist, but was nabbed by Alex.

Alex grabbed her arm and took her aside from the group. But before the agent had a chance to speak, Kara butted in.

"Alex, it's made of led! He wouldn't have used led unless he was trying to hide something!" She said angrily, waving her hands in the air. Kara believed he must have had some deranged plan in all of this.

"I know, Kara, but Barry has to get back home and that won't happen if you get into a fight with Lord. I hate to say it, but we need him." Alex reasoned.

No matter how much she wanted to deny it, Kara knew Alex was right.

"I guess you'll just have to trust me." Maxwell called out to them. He had leaned into Kara's view, barely standing out from Alex's shadow. He had been watching them the whole time, his arms crossed, and with a smug look on his face.

Maxwell's eyes lit up for a second and he turned to face the speedster. "Oh, Barry about that favour-?" He started. His conniving eyes sparked with ambition as he glanced at the hero leaning against the wall.

Barry opened his mouth to speak, but the infuriated Supergirl stepped in. She walked to the centre of the room where Maxwell was, and slapped the wristband onto the equipment table. "He doesn't owe you a thing, not after you **_sicked_** your men on us." She pointed at Lord.

Judging by the look on his face, Maxwell seemed to be a bit offended. " _ **Oh** , I'm sorry_. My men were just doing their job:protecting me and innocents from _**freaks**_."

Kara was trying her best to calm down. She was usually patient and always saw the best in people, but where was the best in Maxwell Lord? The lines he's crossed and the good things he's done have made him hard to figure out. How could Kara see the best in someone, if she didn't really know him _**or**_ his motives? In anger, she clutched a small part of the busted up wall and crushed it in her grasp, sending small pieces of rubble flying.

Lord and Kara were now standing face to face in a staring match. Kara's face was notably red with anger and Maxwell's still had the very same smug look.

Barry noticed this and walked to where they were standing, stretching his arm in between the two. "It's alright." He looked right at Kara. "We had a deal."

Kara reluctantly took her eyes off of Maxwell and made eye contact with her reasoning friend. A clear look of worry passed over her face. It was Barry she was angry for. He was only trying to get home, after all.

Maxwell cut into the silence of the room, "Great. I need a blood sample." Maxwell walked over to one of the bags he and Winn had placed on the floor earlier. He unpacked a syringe from it.

Kara didn't like where this was going. _Who knows what Maxwell would do with Meta-human DNA, -specifically Barry's_. She thought.

Barry removed his wristband and set it on the table beside him. He rolled up his sleeve.

Kara was all for honesty and keeping promises, but was this too much? Had it gone too far?

Barry grimaced slightly as Maxwell took the sample. The scientist then took it to a brief case that popped open with the touch of his finger. Steam came pouring out as he carefully placed the sample in a slot that was about the same size. Everyone could hear the click of the locks as Maxwell gently pressed the case closed.

Barry shot a look of sympathy as if to say "sorry" to the Girl of Steel, at least, she thought so.

The Flash quickly got up and picked up the wristband from the table and slid it back on his red sleeve. He faced the round Particle Accelerator door but turned around to wait.

Kara picked up her wristband but paused as she felt the cool metal in her hand. Kara looked down at the wristband for a moment and then reluctantly slid it on her wrist. _For Barry_ , she thought as she stood beside him.

With a glance, the door parted and the two heroes entered the beaten up room with Alex and Winn following close behind.

Barry let out a big breath of air as he looked all around the room. Kara figured it must be like the one on his Earth.

A hand slapped down on his back which caused Barry to jump.

"Barry! Hey! Sorry I doubted you, man." Winn patted him on the shoulder a couple times.

Barry turned to Kara and stuttered, "-How does he know who I am?"

Kara rocked on her feet. "- _I_ _**might**_ have told a few people about you..." She gave an awkward smile.

" ** _Mmhmm_** , and you need to be more careful when you send wind storms everyone's way while in civvies." Winn pointed at him.

Barry tried to defend himself, placing his hands on his chest at the accusation. "-Wait-." Barry tried to spit out a few words. "But-." He dragged his hands down his face and let out a long sigh. "You must be Winn." Barry held out his hand and they shook. "I'm Barry… but you already know that." He laughed.

"Anyways-." Winn started. "I'm just gonna make sure this equipment is hooked up with the wristbands, and also remind you… -You guys know what you're doing right?"

"Hope so." Kara shot Winn a smile.

"Haha. That's real funny, Kara." Winn mocked in a joking tone. He flicked the a small switch on Barry's wristband and then Kara's. A small light on the wristbands lit up in a white logo that transformed into a timer, frozen at the count of twenty seconds. "Ok we're good." Winn said.

Barry gave a him a thumbs up as Winn exited the room.

Alex walked over to them and gave Kara a hug. "Good luck." She said. Alex looked at Barry for a moment. "Don't mess this up." She said with a smile as she gave him a light push.

Barry fumbled back from the blow. He and Kara watched Alex leave the room. Without turning back she said, "I mean it, Barry!" Which made him smile.

The door closed and Winn looked through the small window. "When you're ready." He yelled at them.

Kara turned to Barry. "I hate goodbyes." She knew their time was coming to an end.

"Then how about 'until next time'..?" Barry shrugged. He outstretched his arms.

Kara and Barry hugged.

"Until next time." Kara repeated.

The two heroes separated and stood silent for a moment.

Barry slung his cowl over his face and grinned at Kara. He started to sing. "It's been a long day without you my friend…-."

"Don't!" Kara hit his shoulder with some strength, but not too much. She was finally getting used to seeing a human as a superhero, even if they weren't invulnerable. When she first came to Earth, she hard a hard time adjusting to her new-found strength, but overtime, she got used to what levels different people could handle. It had taken her longer to adjust to The Flash's level of strength tolerance, because all the superheroes she had worked were like just her, Barry was just a little different.

"Ow!" Barry yelled. He rubbed his shoulder.

"Sorry-." She said laughing, "-But you deserved it."

They started to walk to the mark that was placed on the floor for them.

" _You know_ … I was really hoping that song existed on your earth. I would've seemed crazy if it didn't."

"Would have?" Kara joked. A smile stretched across her face and Barry laughed, looking down at his feet and the back up ahead of him.

Barry suddenly stopped walking which caused Kara to stop, too.

He turned around, "There's one other thing, - _er_ , **_person_** I have to warn you about."

"Ok-?" Kara said. She was confused at what he could possibly have to say.

"He may _seem_ \- a little heartless and cold, but give him a chance, ok?" Barry vouched for his the unknown man.

Kara could tell Barry was dancing around the subject. "Wait, who are you talking about?" Kara was trying to understand.

"Trust me, you'll know him when you hear about him. I'd tell you _buuut_ I've messed up my timeline enough as it is, and I _really_ don't want to mess up yours, too."

"…Ok." Kara nodded. Time travel sounded like a mess so she decided not to dwell on it too much. "Thanks for the heads up-?" She added.

"Oh, and I sure hope I don't mess up your Earth's connection to the multiverse, too." Barry said. "That was a disaster on my Earth."

Kara couldn't quite tell if he was joking or not, but went with it anyway. "But there's two of us handling this. What could happen?" She laughed awkwardly.

Barry smiled. "Don't say that." He laughed for a moment. "But, thanks. This means a lot." He said in a more serious tone.

"Well, I guess this is it." Kara said under her breath.

They placed their hands on the floor and positioned their bodies in an olympic style running stance.

"Remember that when you start seeing the blue tunnel you have to push him through." Winn yelled at them from the Accelerator's door.

But Barry looked at him and pointed to his lighting bolt earpiece.

"Oh right, forgot about that." Winn's voice boomed through their earpieces and made a feedback screeching noise.

Kara grimaced at the loud noise. Out of all the powers she's enjoyed having, super-hearing had to be her least favourite. It was something so useful, yet so painful at times.

"Sorry, Kara." Winn whispered into the mic.

Barry laughed at the whole thing. He shook his head.

They both looked forward. Kara let out a large breath of air and Barry smiled.

"When you start running, we'll lose communication so if you have any questions, better ask now." Maxwell said into the mic.

The Kryptonian looked at the focused Earth hero. "You, ready?" Kara asked.

"Only, If you are." Barry smiled.

"Ready." Kara said.

"Set." Barry quipped back.

"Go!" They yelled simultaneously. They took off in a bright light and swirling colours of red and blue. As they ran faster and faster, Barry's lightning aura erupted with yellow lightning that got bigger and brighter.

Kara felt her ears pop when a small blue tunnel was seen ahead of them. The heroine had never seen so many colours while running on her own.

As they neared the blue tunnel Kara looked up and around. She could see things, people, people with Barry, places, and some objects that she didn't recognize. She saw both past and present and maybe even the future, but it was hard to tell; it was passing so quickly.

This was the tunnel, it had to be. All the images quickly zoomed away from her sight as one large one in the centre took its place. She squinted and noticed the image was a location. It had tall buildings and a few people on the street. By the darkness of the image she could tell it was night.

Her eyes opened wide for a second when she realized she had shifted too much focus onto the image rather than the mission.

Kara wondered if she was supposed to push him through the portal now; they had never decided on a signal. But final confirmation came when Barry nodded at her with a smile. She nodded back and slowed down just enough to get behind Barry.

Her wristband beeped and she looked down at it. The timer had hit zero. Without a second thought, she pushed Barry through the portal.

When the red speedster disappeared, the images that had surrounded them earlier, disappeared with him. Now all that was left was a small blue hole in his place, and it was growing larger and larger.

Kara ran faster but then strained as the hole started to suck her in. It lifted her off the ground and she tried to fly backward with as much force as she could. Her cape, that had went through the hole first, slowly pulled out as she backed away. Kara grabbed the edges of the portal with her bare hands, one hand on each side.

She wondered how it was even possible to hold a blackhole singularity. _This is insane!_ She thought.

With all her might, Kara started to pull her hands closer together. She yelled as the singularity grew smaller and smaller. The wristband beeped again and she became aware of time. _How much time had gone by?_ She looked down and saw the countdown.

 _Five seconds until the singularity would become too unstable to handle._

Kara's hands came further apart from the strain on her body and the singularity was growing again.

 _Four seconds._

Kara's arms were giving out, and she could find that she was getting sucked into the portal again. Her teeth clenched tightly.

 _Three seconds._

Her arms shook more and more violently and she closed her eyes. But opened them again. Determination in her face. She pushed her arms together with even more strength than before. " **Not** -." She started.

 _Two seconds._

" **Today!** " She yelled. With a final burst of energy she brought the portal together and her hands met with a large clap. The volume of the clap sent sound waves throughout the room, making some of the broken equipment fall off the walls of the Particle Accelerator. A sound so loud, it could wake the dead.

Kara gasped when she saw that she was back in the room. She fell to the ground, landing on her knees.

Alex and Winn ran through the door towards the Girl of Steel. Alex dropped to her knees and hugged her sister who looked straight to where the singularity used to be. Winn had stopped running and stood just behind the two sisters.

"We did it." Kara muttered, still looking forward.

Alex moved her face to meet hers. " _ **You**_ did it, Kara." Alex grabbed Kara's hand and helped her up from the ground.

Kara came out of her daze and smiled. The two sister hugged again.

Kara opened her eyes to see Winn standing behind them awkwardly. "Get over here." She said to him.

Winn pulled his hands out of his pockets, walked over and joined their hug.

But Winn wasn't the only person Kara saw. Maxwell Lord had been standing at a distance with a strange look on his face. _Was it surprise?… or maybe disappointment?_ Kara guessed. However, she shrugged it off when Alex interrupted her thoughts.

"You only get to hug me because we all almost died." Alex said in a flat tone.

Kara could see Alex was looking right at Winn.

"- _Riiight_." Winn said as they all pulled away from the hug.

Alex smirked and Kara raised an eyebrow.

The sisters started to leave the room while Winn stood there for a moment.

"You're joking though right? We're one big happy family." Winn yelled after Alex.

Before the duo exited the room Alex gave him a smirking glance.

Winn started to walk. "Right?" He yelled again.

Laughter was heard from the other room.

"Guys?" Winn broke into a run.

* * *

 **Thank you all so much for waiting. I've been super busy. Please stay tuned for the epilogue that will hopefully up in the next couple minutes. Stay awesome! -REDtorical**


	11. Epilogue: Awakenings

The speedster emerged from a blue light back into the sweet, familiar streets. They smelled of concession stand food and swarmed with noises of cars speeding by. Barry skidded to a stop and immediately put a hand to the earpiece lightning bolt.

"How long was I gone?" Barry spat out.

"What?" A confused voice asked with a yawn.

"You won't believe what just happened to me!" Barry said to his friend Cisco.

"Tell me about it in the morning, man. It's 2AM." Cisco said.

Cisco must have fallen asleep at STAR Labs again. _Typical_. Barry shook his head. "Alright." He finally said, and took his finger off the earpiece.

Barry gazed down at the led-lined band on his wrist, remembering what he did. There was a small crack that Barry figured had opened up during the jump. He peeled off the front metal plate.

His face illuminated with a green light. In very thin lines, Barry could see the dangerous space rock Kara had briefly mentioned: _Kryptonite_.

Barry smiled. "You owe me one, Kara Danvers." Even though he could run, he decided there had been enough running for one day. Right now, he just wanted to take it slow.

As he walked into the night, Barry whistled the last few notes of the familiar song Kara had interrupted before. With a spring in his step, he vanished into his familiar world.

* * *

Blaring music was heard far beneath the Verdant nightclub. A man walked down the metal stairs into what looked like a foundry. The man, the former soldier, straightened his black tie when he saw who he was looking for.

"Mr. Queen." He cleared his throat.

Oliver Queen turned around to look at him. He set down an arrowhead he was carving. "John Diggle." Oliver turned around to greet him. "It's been awhile." He started.

"Why did you want to see me?" Diggle asked. "And why are you down here? What is this place?" John looked up and around the small room.

"Do you trust me, John?" The rich man asked.

Diggle turned his focus back to Oliver and nodded.

"This-. Is something I've been working on." He gestured to the room, rising an arm high and letting his eyes follow along the borders of the ceiling and back down a pillar. He paused for a moment when his eyes met a funeral home pamphlet that had fallen on the ground.

"I didn't tell you everything that happened to me in National City." Oliver said as he picked up the pamphlet from the floor. He studied it and proceeded to drop it into a paper waste basket.

Deciding this might be a long story, John Diggle sat down on one of the metal tables set up in the foundry.

Oliver paced around the room and started to share his experience. "I had an encounter with an old friend. _A dead one_. He encouraged me to come out of the shadows, become someone better… But I've finally figured out I don't need to do that as Oliver Queen."

"What do you mean?" Diggle said in a confused tone. He crossed his arms.

Oliver pulled a bow out of a cabinet and examined it. "I want to make a difference. Be like _them_..." He pointed to the newspaper clippings sitting on his desk. One of which read: ' **SUPERGIRL MAKES SUPERFRIEND**.' Oliver continued, "But I want to be better. _More... -efficient_. I want to take justice into my own hands… or _our_ own hands."

"What are you saying..?" Diggle questioned. He sat forward on the desk.

Oliver paced around the room again. "I want you to join me in my crusade. We can find justice and take down those who threaten the innocent... For your brother, -John."

"-I don't understand. How could you possibly take down aliens or metahumans, -Oliver, what about **_regular_** people?" The soldier was trying to understand.

"With _knowledge_. And _training_." Oliver emphasized. "Starting tonight I'm going to step out of the shadows and fight, but as someone else."

They both paused for a long time.

"For Andy?" Oliver asked as he held out his hand.

"For Andy." Diggle replied and shook it.

* * *

Overhead by a nearby cemetery, the rain plummeted down on the ground of the lost ones. Thunder roared and lightning crashed down beside a headstone with the engraving: _Loving son._ Even though the one buried there had died with a different name, the original was inscribed.

As the lighting turned red and black, a molten black claw rose from the ground in a flash of light. The dead creature screeched into the night. Its voice echoed from a tombstone with the name, "Barry Allen."

* * *

 _And somewhere in the black of night, a street corner in the midst of the city, a blue light glows. It forms out of the nothingness of the breeze and opens with each passing second. The portal, hidden, stable. Ready for awakenings, ready for crossing worlds._

* * *

 **Thank you so much for making this journey with me! I hope you all enjoyed the story! I would really appreciate it if you give me some feedback. Tell me what your favourite part of the story/favourite scene was, what was good, and what I could improve on (besides obvious things). Thanks! -REDtorical**


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